A Bottle of Warm Milk
by John Poe
Summary: The King of Evil falls and the Mask is shattered. A hero returns to find peace, but dark memories are not so easily forgotten. A story of growing up again; finding old friends, ancient dangers, and true love. Set post OOT and MM.
1. The Legend Returns

_Author's Note: Ah, Zelda. I don't need to tell you the magics of cutting grass for rupees and trying to play "I am Ironman" on the ocarina, you've been there - that's why you're reading this right now. All I need to say is: I hope you enjoy it, and I don't own anything I'm writing about. Without further ado..._

The world is full of the stuff of legends. The sun that rises and the moon that falls are both divine acts that have magic and power behind them. The very earth, water, and sky are the products of the Goddesses. The birth of every king and the death of every pauper are events worthy of a story. Yes, the world is full of the stuff of legends, but in Hyrule there is one legend that is told most often. There are many versions, and few know the entire truth behind the tale, but there isn't a man, woman, or child alive that is ignorant of the Hero.

Many claim he was a swordsman given his power through the favor of some ancient and forgotten god. The sermons of priests are filled with his deeds, citing his path to be the one we should all follow, the path that brings us into favor with the Goddesses. Parents regale their children with stories of the Hero as shape-shifting beast, conductor of the winds, and greatest of all monster slaying enthusiasts. Because he is in so many, there are those who dismiss him as nothing but a child's fairy tale and there have even been impostors attempting to profit off his alleged reincarnation in times of trouble, but in the heart of the people he is prophet, warrior, and wielder of the power of light.

In the hearts of those who know him, or at least he as he exists today, he is Link, the bane of Ganon, wielder of the Triforce of Courage, and child of the forest. The ones who know him as he is are few, and spread far across the land – sages of old awakened by the Hero's unstoppable efforts in a time parallel to our own. Their memories, and those of Princess Zelda, future ruler of the Kingdom, are what will preserve his legacy in the ages.

He cares little for this. His eternal role in history is a bit beyond his understanding, he is but eleven years old. When he began his incredible journeys across the fields and time-lines of Hyrule and Termina for the salvation of mankind and the whereabouts of his friend and fairy companion, Navi, respectively, he was but ten. In the time since then he has grown more than any boy his age has any right to, but he is still a child. He has had access to a body in its physical prime and the help of the wisest creatures alive to help him ensure his foretold victories against evil, but he was then and is now still a child. Zelda saw this in his eyes after he felled the King of the Gerudo, and so restored his lost time, if not his innocence. Sadly, his knowledge of the world and some of its harsher truths has denied him the carefree youth Zelda wanted for him.

Restarting life as a Kokiri without a fairy was impossible. He knew his true parentage, and beyond that, he knew the wonders of the world beyond the forest. The wonders of the world weren't nearly as much fun when he was alone, however, and he had set off in a fruitless, if not uneventful search soon after for the fairy who had been lost to him. After all was said and done he still had no idea where Navi was or even if she still fluttered around in Hyrule, something that frustrated him and took the fire out of his search. His trip to Clocktown had taught him one thing if nothing else; there are plenty of ways to get lost in this world, and even more ways to lose yourself in another one. If he could stumble into Termina and find himself all but stuck, who knew what nooks and crannies a creature Navi's size could lose herself in.

Thus, as he emerged from the tangled trees of the Lost Woods he found himself, once again, unsure of himself and his future. He liked taking things one step at a time. Hungry? Get food. Bored? Find something to do. Lost in the endless twists and turns of the forest? Find the way out. Luckily, Epona had seemed to remember the way they had taken in three days ago (or three months ago, he wasn't quite sure) – and the trees had soon thinned, allowing the next problem to appear, one without an obvious solution. What to do now? He hadn't thought much beyond getting back to familiar territory, he just didn't have a head for long term planning. He had grown accustomed, once again, to fairies doing that for him. He sighed. Leaving behind Tatl just reminded Link how much he missed his floating blue friend.

It was good to see Hyrule field again, though. It was spring, and the newly green grass made everything look fresh and clean. Flowers were budding and the gentle sound of the river could just barely be heard on the gentle breeze. It felt good on his face, and lazily nudged the tip of his green cap around the back of his tunic. He breathed deep. It was really good to be back. An impatient snort from Epona brought him back to reality and he gave her side a reassuring pat.

Perhaps he should just continue his search. Giving up didn't seem like a very fun idea, and it wasn't his style besides. He didn't know where to begin, but maybe Zelda could have an idea. She hadn't had any leads when he went to her before, she had just given him the Ocarina of Time and wished him well, but she was the smartest person he knew, and maybe she had remembered something in the meantime. The castle was... yep, it was over that way, he could see the tips of the towers over the hills. A gentle tap to the side and a short shout brought his pony into full stride in seconds, seemingly energized by the prospect of being out in the open again.

The world is full of the stuff of legends. Perhaps the biggest one of all began riding out towards Castle Town.

* * *

Darkness. Deep and thick, unpleasant alone, but nearly unbearable when combined with the sounds and odor coming from the creatures within. An uneasy sleep was nearing an end, their bleary eyes began to open; they could sense someone nearby. Instinctively they knew that the shackled door that kept their chaos at bay would soon be opened and their violent excitement was frightening. In a moment they were on their feet, talons scratching as they rushed blindly in circles on their dusty floor with a mad energy.

A metallic click and a heavy thud, the sound of a heavy lock unlatching falling to the ground. Yes, yes they could taste the new air as the door began to swing open. The light was blinding for a moment, but their freedom was at hand, and they charged at the one who had released them with a reckless abandon. They would now feast. Their clucking was terrible to behold.

"Hello, everyone!" Malon sang as she threw the seed in her hand to the mob of cuccos flapping crazily in their attempts to beat each other out the door of the coop. She couldn't help but giggle at them - of all the animals she helped take care of, the cuccos were the silliest. The hungriest too, it seemed like. The seed seemed to disappear before it hit the ground as she slowly emptied the feedbag she had. "How are you all today?"

Most of them seemed not to notice her at all, keeping their full attention on the food at all times, but one cucco stopped pecking for a moment and hopped over to its benefactor. Delighted, Malon poured a small pile of seed into her hand and bent down to indulge in a bit of favoritism. Her smile threatened to grow larger than her face when the animal looked at her with a cocked head before proceeding to eat out of her hand. The seed was gone within seconds, though, and the little girl winced as the sharp beak pricked the soft palm of her hand. Shooing her now least favorite cucoo away, she finished her chore by simply dumping the rest of the bag on the ground. They'd finish it all, she knew. They always did.

Clapping her hands to clean them and leaving her strange little friends to their own devices for a moment, Malon thought about what she and Dad still had to do. She was still young, just above her Dad's ample belly in height, but she already had to keep the sometimes lax Talon in line. With Mom gone... well, it was clear even to the child that her father needed her encouragement just as much as she needed his. The redhead took a short moment to smooth her dress out before looking over towards the horses.

As expected, Epona was nowhere to be found. She had to fight the urge to begin pouting. The horse had been gone for longer than ever before now, where could it have run off to? Unlike the other horses, there was absolutely no way to keep that wild pony inside the gates of the ranch. Every once in a while it would prick up its ears and suddenly charge out, even jumping over the gate if it was closed. Dad didn't know what to do about it, but Epona had always come back in a day or two, sometimes looking really tired. It was strange, but Malon never got the feeling that Epona was unhappy when it came back, and it certainly didn't seem unhappy and restless inside the ranch; or not around her anyway. Despite herself, Malon could feel a tremble coming to her lip and a tear to her eye. She missed the horse. There were plenty of others, but Epona was her best friend. If only her voice was stronger she could sing Mom's song into the wind and bring the pony back, she just knew it...

"Oh well." Not one to dwell on sad things, Malon fought back a sniffle before turning back to the cuccos. She still had friends here, and even if they weren't as shiny and appreciative of her singing as Epona was, she still had reason to smile.

Elsewhere on Lon Lon Ranch, Talon and his surly ranch-hand Ingo were busy shoveling hay and having what passed for one of their conversations.

"So dern it if I weren't tired when I arrived. Luggin' all that milk around town had my arms feelin' like I might want ta start lookin' for another job..."

"..."

"...and so I just thought I'd prop up on the crate an' maybe git a bit of rest before headin' back, y'know..."

"...Mmm."

"So I wake up and the sky's blacker than one of Bessie's spots an' I knew then and there that Malon was gonna have my hide! Haha!"

"And I was left to do everything while you were gone."

"Haw! Sorry 'bout that! So she wakes me up with a gosh-dern Cock-a-doodle-do! And not jus' one from her niether, she actually brings up one of our Cuccos with her! I don't know how she managed that, the way they flap and such. She must have had ta hatch it herself when she got to me, 'eh? Haha!"

"Hmph."

"Woo!" Talon took a moment to wipe his brow and wrinkle his nose at the sweat stains that were now all but permanent on his rough and well worn clothes. "My arms are-"

"'Feeling like you might 'want ter stert lookin fer another job, boy howdy.'" Ingo muttered just under his breath, never looking up from his work. Talon unknowingly continued on in almost perfect sync with his dour helper before smiling as he saw his daughter open the barn doors.

"Ah, Malon, you git the cuccos fed yet?"

"Yeah, dad. All done, and I thought I would go ahead and bring the cows back in."

"Naw, let 'em stay out a bit longer. Beautiful day." The twittering of birds coming in from the open door reinforced his words and brought a measure of strength back to him. "Besides, Ingo here is better at that anyway."

Malon nodded at the truth in that, not noticing that Ingo had begun to stab his pitchfork a bit more forcefully into his haystack. It really did seem like all he had to do was approach the cattle and they would bolt in on their own more often than not. She wondered briefly if she would ever be as good with animals as Lon Lon's ranch-hand was.

"Why don't you...hmmm..." Tapping a thick finger on his chin in a rather exaggerated manner, Talon thought on what he needed done most, what was appropriate for his little angel, and what he didn't feel like doing today.

"Well... the laundry needs to be done..." the girl admitted, her ingrained work ethic and honesty forcing itself out, "...but I could get started on lunch instead!" Her chipper rise in tone gave an obvious hint towards her preference.

"Y'know I was just sayin' how hungry I was gettin', wasn't I Ingo?" Talon's hearty and unappreciated slap to the back only produced a scowl from it's victim.

"Okay, what do ya want?" Red hair bobbed happily as a work rag was draped over one arm, transforming it into a classy waitress's accessory. After a moment, a stick was produced and the word 'MENU' was hastily scribbled into the dirt.

"Well now, I wasn't expectin' deluxe service!" Talon exclaimed with approval. "Lesse now... I'll have me the chef's special."

"Ah!" Malon exclaimed happily, scribbling a bit more in the ground. "That's one big sandwich with a glass of milk and a bunch of flowers. And for you sir?" she asked, turning politely to her other customer, already knowing full well what he would say.

"Humph."

"Two chef's specials darlin'. He wants pink flowers with his," Talon translated. Another nod, and a drawing of a smiley face next to the first order completed the menu.

"Very well gentlemen, I'll be back real quick," she promised, rising from her crouch and dusting herself off.

"Alright darlin', just don't go too far looking for them flowers," her father warned, "I wanna be able to see ya', alright?" After the usual assurances had been made, the rag was stowed away and she hurried off, pleased with herself for avoiding pruny fingers and the smell of Dad's undershirts. There wasn't much blooming flora nearby, what with the animals eating or stomping on most of it as it sprung up, so that only left the ones that grew near the exit to the ranch. Maybe on the edge of where Dad could see, but not enough to where she'd get in any kind of trouble. Not that her father was any kind of a disciplinarian, a good puppy dog face could get her out of anything, but she knew better than to push her boundaries too much. He didn't get mad when she did stuff like lie and run off alone, he usually got really sad, but that was worse than any of the half-hearted punishments he had managed to give out (and quickly rescind) over the years. So she didn't actually leave the ranch, but she got close enough to the field outside to see the top of the big mountain that loomed over Kakariko Village. There, perfect, lots of tiny but still serviceable pink flowers just on the border of the Ranch's property. She bent over to begin collecting a bouquet of them, difficult because the stems were smaller than the flowers themselves. They also didn't have a very strong smell, but still, she was pleased with them.

Pinching her tiny trophies in between her fingers, Malon turned back towards the house, but was suddenly struck by the sound of a very familiar neigh ringing out over the grassy slopes of Hyrule Field. Was it...?

"Epona!" The flowers scattered around her, forgotten, as she waved her arms frantically and called out to her horse. "Epona! Come here, girl!" She was far away, barely a brown smudge on the edge of the Malon's vision, but it was her, no mistaking it. She had finally come back! Malon couldn't wait to give her a good brushing and sing Mom's song with it again, after a quick lecture on running away so much, of course. As the horse grew closer, however, it became clear that there was something troubling on top of it. A rider.

It was a boy she didn't know. He was, oddly, dressed all in green, and seemed very young. Blond hair poked out of his silly flopping hat, and surprised cries and tugs on the reins meant he wasn't in complete control of the horse and certainly wasn't steering it towards Lon Lon on his own. Still, he was doing a better job of riding it than anybody else had, although Epona had allowed few to try, admittedly. There weren't many visitors to the ranch small enough to ride atop the pony and those that were couldn't even get close enough to pet the animal. Malon had tried a couple of times, but hadn't done much more than go around in small circles before dismounting, feeling guilty at making such a small horse carry her weight. This boy seemed to have no such qualms, although he did appear scared of his apparent loss of control over his steed's brakes.

"C'mon Epona!" Malon continued, her tone shifting from joyous to determined. Whoever this boy was, he was going to get an earful. Where did he get off taking other people's friends around on joyrides without asking first? Her slight frown wavered and broke soon though, and she was actually forced to wince and stifle giggles as she saw him tumble off the saddle and roll, slowly but surely, right into a tree. The loud _**thunk**_ made her suddenly worried for the rider's well-being, but he soon rolled back into her view, albeit groaning and holding his head tightly. By the time he had stumbled back to his feet, Epona had reached Malon and had begun nuzzling her gently.

"Epona! What are you doing out here with him? Are you alright?" Malon squished her face up against the warmth of her horse's fuzzy brown neck before backing up and shaking her finger in admonishment. "You know better than to be playing around by yourself for so long. We were worried about you!" Epona shook her mane a bit in acknowledgment, but then turned around and trotted back to the dizzy looking kid who gratefully steadied himself against her side.

"And who are you?" Malon questioned, not quite as accusatory as she had planned. The very fact that Epona seemed to care about his well-being earned him a few points, but still, the boy was very strange. Up close she could see that he had a sword on his back, even though he looked no older than she was. Maybe it was a toy, but it looked like it was secured with a bit too much care – tightened leather straps wrapped around his weapon, straps like the guards had over their swords. All the sticks and wooden swords she had seen wielded and had wielded herself were either secured by strings or weren't secured at all. He also possessed a metal shield, and it wasn't a trash can lid. On top of all that, he wasn't crying after that nasty fall he had taken, and it looked like it had really hurt.

His large blue eyes widened a bit at seeing her, and a puzzling smile spread across his dirty face. "Malon!" He suddenly exclaimed, taking her completely by surprise.

Malon balked. "You know me? I don't remember you. I would remember a boy as strange as you." He looked like a nice enough boy, though, so instead of taking her horse back home immediately, she merely asked, "What are you doing with Epona?"

The boy faltered for a moment, just now realizing his mistake – of course they would notice their horse gone for such a long time. He regretted not thinking of it sooner and not paying a visit to the ranch after Zelda sent him back to his young body. He had been experimenting with his old fairy ocarina not long after finding his youth restored to him, and hadn't really known whether Epona would still respond or not; but she had, just like always. He simply continued as if she was still his, not thinking through the implications it would have on a confused Malon. It was obvious that his old friend didn't recall the things they had been through together; the rescue of the ranch from Ingo, the time spent making music together - for all intents and purposes it had never actually happened. Still, even if she didn't remember their past, it seemed like Epona at least still knew him, but there had always seemed to be something a little larger than life about that horse.

Malon put her hands on her hips in a gesture of mild frustration. "Well? Why were you riding her? Where did you find her?" Link hurriedly tried to gather his thoughts. Tales of time travel probably wouldn't go over well right now, but he had to explain himself. And like with everything else, the truth would be the only solution here.

"Epona came to me when I played her song, Malon." True enough, if not the whole story.

"What?" Malon looked at him like he had just sprouted a pair of wings and a curly tail. "How do you know... where did you learn her song?" It was a secret shared by only her and her Mother... and anyone else who happened to walk by when she was singing, she supposed, but who would realize the connection between it and her chocolate brown companion? She didn't remember telling anybody about it...

"You taught it to me." He immediately claimed, causing the girl a sudden doubt in her own memory.

"I did not!" Malon exclaimed. There was obviously a bit of hesitation in her eyes though, giving Link hope that he could get out of this without making the girl upset.

"Sure you did," he continued, "You might not remember, it was a long time ago, but you told me all about your ranch and showed me how to play your favorite song. If you don't believe me, I can play it right now..." After a bit of rummaging around in his tunic, Link proudly produced his shimmering blue ocarina; a gift from the future ruler of the kingdom and the most powerful of all his formidable tools.

"What is that? It looks like a blue potato," Malon scoffed, wrinkling her nose.

"This is what I play the song on," the slightly self-conscious hero said. "It's just about the best instrument in the world."

"It looks like a blue potato." Malon repeated. A crestfallen Link couldn't help but see the truth in her words as he looked down on the mystical artifact, but shrugged it off as he raised it to his lips.

"Who cares if it does. Just listen." After checking his finger position and moistening his lips a bit, he began to blow softly. Despite herself, Malon gasped a bit when she heard the sharp, clear tone coming from the ocarina. It was very loud, but not harsh. Gentle, yet unwavering. It sounded like it was coming from all around her, the grass and the trees and the sky. It was so pretty... then came the rest of the notes. The familiar melody began to come together with crisp and practiced finger movements. It was indeed the song she sang everyday, and it sounded brand new to her.

Hearing it like this... she couldn't help but think of Mom. She could almost see her face again as she allowed her eyes to unfocus, putting her full attention to the song being played. As she began to hum along softly, almost unconsciously, Malon became suddenly aware of the fact that she felt like crying. The boy had his eyes closed as he played, so it was tempting, but she roughly rubbed her eyes until they dried up instead. Then it was done. He had stopped sooner than she would have liked, but he had proved his claims.

He lowered his instrument and opened his eyes to see Epona on one side of him, staring at him in appreciation at hearing its favorite song, and Malon on his other, doing just about the same thing. "I... I thought that was very nice." Malon managed, slightly miffed at being wrong in the first place, but quickly getting over it. "Sorry that I don't remember you, there are a lot of kids who come to visit the animals."

"I'm, ah..." Link fidgeted a bit a this, but quickly recovered. "Don't worry about it. Sorry about riding around on Epona without asking."

"That's okay. Just don't do it again," she lectured, treating him much like she had treated the animal beside him. Before she could really get into it, however, she paused and asked,"Um... sorry, but what was your name?"

"Oh yeah," he said before checking behind him for obstacles and pulling off a quick back flip for dramatic effect."I'm Link. I'm a hero."

"Nice to meet you Link," Malon returned brightly, shaking his hand vigorously before breaking away to do an awkward half-cartwheel. "I'm Mal-oof! Malon... hero, farmer, AND master chef." Landing on her back had done nothing to dampen the enthusiasm of her introduction. "But I guess you already knew that if you've already met me." She hopped back to her feet and studied Link, stopping when her eyes ran across the ocarina he still held in one of his hands. "Hey, uh... now that we know each other again..." Her face was sheepish, but she met his eyes nonetheless. "Could you, um, show me how to play that thing?"

"Huh?" Link followed her eyes to his ocarina and he considered it for a moment. On the one hand, this was a priceless treasure that could manipulate the very fabric of time and space. On the other, he truly wanted to be back on good terms with Malon. Back on the first hand, he didn't really want her spit on it... Malon began to silently beg, her hands clasped and her eyes pleading as she nervously jogged in place, awaiting his answer. Despite his reservations, he answered her with a slow nod. "Well... if you want. I guess I owe you something for kind of taking your horse."

"Alright!" Malon cheered, jumping up high and rushing over to grab Epona's reins. "Come on then, we can start practicing after lunch."

"Wha-" Link wanted to protest, but was quickly cut off.

"C'mon, grab all the flowers you can real quick and follow me inside. Dad won't mind, and you can tell me more about what you and Epona have been doing for forever." With that she skipped away with his mode of transportation as a willing hostage, leaving him to contemplate his new challenge. It gave him something simple to focus on however. When you need your horse back, you get your horse back. While being nice about it, of course. It wouldn't be very hero-like to just take it back; he'd probably have to do something like save her from Ingo like he did last time, he figured. First things first though. She wanted him to, for whatever reason, gather flowers. He drew his sword and went to work.

_And there we go! I feel like I'll have a lot of fun writing this, and should have another chapter up before too long. Liked it, didn't? Wanna tell me what you thought about that surprise twist with the monsters not being monsters, but Cuccos? Reviews are, as I'm sure you've guessed by now, greatly appreciated. In any case, thanks for reading! _


	2. Da Da Da DAAAAA!

_The overall message I got from my first few reviews (Thank you all for those, by the way) seemed to be, "Good, now don't stop there." I assure you all that I hope to update on a fairly decent schedule. I've got school and all that, but this is considerably more fun, so I hope to churn out something every 1-2 weeks. Hey, by that standard, I just updated way ahead of schedule! Boring logistics aside, let's continue. _

Humming as she washed her hands, Malon eagerly awaited her new playmate. How long had it been since she had last had someone her age over to do stuff with? She thought back hard, but the only time she could remember clearly was when that one girl had come over with her dad to buy a cucco. She had been kinda fun, but it seemed all she ever wanted to do was run around in circles after her new pet. It had been a while since then in any case, and it was about time she had a kid over to play. It was great to have Epona back home, but even her favorite horse couldn't help her make lunch.

He was taking an awful long time with those flowers, though. She had already gated Epona back up and set out the ingredients for the sandwiches... he must have wandered into the barn and gotten in a conversation with Dad or something. Or maybe - wait, nope, there was the creak of the door. In popped Link's small head which was soon followed by the rest of his body when he spied Malon waving him in with sudsy hands. She decided to skip drying them, choosing instead to immediately approach Epona's mysterious rider.

"About time! You get what I asked for?" Frowning as a bit of soapy water splashed on the front of his shirt, the boy nodded and produced a bottle from behind his back. It was filled to the brim with all kinds of flowers: the small pink ones Malon had been picking, larger white ones he had found around the side of Lon Lon's fence; he had even gone so far as to gather some very sweet-smelling blue and purple ones he had spied near the tree he hit his head on. Delighted, Malon reached out for the bottle immediately but soon realized her hands were too slippery to get a good grip on the slick glass. Not one to let such a thing deter her, the she simply hugged it between her arms and carried it away to a nearby table.

The family dining table was obviously handmade, a little clunky, and the legs could dish out splinters if not treated with respect, but it was sturdy and had done its job with consistency for years. On top was a variety of vegetables, jars, dishes and other assorted things Malon had fished out of the cabinets. Adding the bottle of flowers to the display, she grinned and turned her attention once again to her little helper in green.

"Good," she said, finally wiping her hands dry on the front of her clothes, "Now we can get started. I'm going to need you to get me the stuff I need to make two chef's specials." Link paused upon hearing that. The allusion to food was enough to elicit a surprising rumble from his deprived stomach. Noticing this, Malon added, "Or maybe three chef's specials. I bet you're hungry too."

Actually, Link was ravenous. He hadn't eaten a thing since he left Termina, and it had been quite a long trip back. Trying not to look too eager, he assented.

"That sounds good."

"Y'know what? Let's make it four. Now I'm hungry!"

"Okay, sure." Link hurried, eager to get on with the process, "What do we need for a chef's special?"

"Let me see... well, we'll need bread."

"Bread, okay." Link's natural quick thinking began to kick in, a mental checklist began writing itself in his brain. He was acutely aware of his hunger now, so this was important.

"Hmm... Cheese."

"Cheese." He repeated, serious.

"Lettuce, Tomato... maybe some salt and pepper."

"Got it."

"And milk."

"Alright," he said, taking that for the end of it and turning around.

"And some kind of juice."

"Oh..." Link did a quick about-face, a politeness still in his voice, but the impatience obvious to even Malon. "Alright, juice. Anything else?"

"Carrots. And water, and corn, and eggs."

"Um, o-okay," Link stammered, trying to keep up in his head. Seeing him start to lose track, the red-headed chef in front of him couldn't help but push it a bit farther - her thoughts began to turn mischievous.

"Ooh! And I just got a great idea for another recipe! A chef's special number two! We'll definitely need a big hunk of chocolate!"

"Chocolate?"

"Yes!" Despite the fact that she was now just kidding around, Malon's knees went weak just thinking about the treat her dad had won for her at the fair last year – a thick, dark, rock-looking candy that had been wrapped up tight in frilly green paper. The smell... and the taste! "Yes. We'll need chocolate. And cotton candy."

"I don't even know what that is..." Link faltered, beginning to lose faith that he would eat anytime soon.

"And caramels!" Malon continued, lost in her own fantasy. "All the caramels we can get."

He was almost afraid to ask, but Link went ahead and ventured,"Is that it?"

For a few agonizing seconds it seemed like Malon was remembering something else, but she shook her head, finally ending the giant list. "That should do it."

With a sigh, Link turned around and headed for the door, making it half-way before being stopped. "Hey! Where are you going?"

"I'm going to get you what you need," Link stated, the sincerity of his oath giving the eleven-year-old's voice a strange quality. "I can probably find a lot of the stuff you need around your ranch, but I might have to go to to Castle Town for some of the weird things." Then, more to himself than to her, he continued,"I think I saw King Zora drinking what looked like some kind of juice..."

"Hey, wait!" Malon interjected, pulling Link's hat off his head after trying to stop him by grabbing it. "We don't need to worry about the second recipe right now, we can do that later. For now, let's just focus on the first chef's special." Confused, but relieved somewhat, Link agreed to this. Malon relinquished the hat once it was clear he was staying,"And I'm sure we have all the ingredients in the house. Here, come with me. Let's look for them together."

As Link went back to the table, searching through the things Malon had gathered, the girl tried to think of a reason for why he had taken her pretend demands so seriously. She had expected him to laugh, or maybe give her a pile of mud to serve as chocolate; not offer to take the long trip to actually try and get some. What kind of kid thought like that? Still, she had been told by her father that sometimes she took jokes a little too far. Maybe it had just been her being too silly.

"Ha! Here's some bread!"

Then again, perhaps this boy was just really strange. Malon laughed when she saw him. He was standing on a chair, holding the bread high above his head, looking at it and smiling so big one would think he held a shining trophy in his hands.

"W-Why are you doing t-that?" she managed in between giggles.

"Because I... because I found it." A slightly miffed Link clarified. Why was she laughing at him?

"That-" Oh, it was too much. This boy was just the funniest person she had ever met. "T-That's..." She was close to falling down on the floor. Why wouldn't he lower his arms? "That's funny. Y-you're really funny, Link," Malon managed with a complete lack of malice. "You might be the funniest boy I ever met." She actually meant it as a compliment, and in his innocence, that's what Link took it as. A slight blush began to color his embarrassed face and he finally lowered the loaf of bread back down onto the table.

"I don't think anybody has ever said I was funny before," he said thoughtfully before quickly taking it back. "Except for Saria, but I don't know why she told me that though. I don't really know any good jokes."

"Jokes are funny, but other stuff is funny too," Malon explained.

"But...this is funny?" Link asked, hefting the bread back above his head skeptically.

"Yes!" Another series of happy laughs was brought forward as evidence. "Yes, you're...you're really funny when you do that. D-Do it again with s-something else!"

Still not understanding, but pleased with himself, Link obliged by hopping down and sending the chair he was standing on a moment ago skyward. This was met with renewed cheers and roaring applause from his one person audience. Briefly, he wondered why nobody had ever told him this was funny before... although now that he thought about it, Navi _had_ laughed at him the first couple of times she had seen him do it. He had thought she had just been happy about avoiding the giant rolling rocks and hungry plants. After all, he usually laughed after being scared, but it must have been the way he opened treasure chests that made his old friend begin having spasms in mid-air.

Navi. At the thought of her, and at the thought of her loss, Link's happy mood began to falter. As he set the chair back down on the floor, however, he comforted himself by once again going over what he had to do to get back on track. Want to find a fairy? Ask the Princess. Want to get to the Princess? Get to your horse. Want to get to your horse?

"Okay, c'mon. Let's make lunch already!" Malon said, mirroring Link's thoughts. "Can you slice eight big pieces of bread for me?"

"Oh. Okay." Finding the bread again, Link drew his sword and went to work.

_This was just a short bit off conflict-free exposition, but I sure had fun writing it, and I hope you enjoyed reading it. Go ahead and re-read it if you want. I recommend that you listen to the Lon Lon Ranch theme while you do, so as to get the full effect. Try looking up the Hyrule Symphony Orchestra version on YouTube. Beautiful. When you're done, you could even tell me what you thought about the chapter! See you again in a week or so!_


	3. Lunchtime

_Alrighty, once again, thanks for all the feedback – most appreciated. Another quick, but shortish update. I think that after this I'll try to make each chapter a bit longer. No promises though; I'd rather put out something short than nothing, after all. _

_Anyway, on to Chapter Three! Here we go!_

"Well lookee here! What a feast!" Talon rumbled, his compliment raising the corners of his daughter's mouth considerably. He always sang her praises when she cooked, but he was genuinely taken back a bit by what was piled in front of him. The big plates – the ones usually reserved for dinner – had been used for this meal, and for obvious reason. In addition to sandwiches stuffed tall with all manner of things, some better left unquestioned, there was a ring of multicolored flower blossoms around the edges of each dish. In addition to this, a few select flowers had been arranged into a design on each sandwich face, creating a triangle for Talon, a smiley face for Ingo (which he had frowned at for a moment before brushing off), a raindrop for Malon, and an abstract blob-looking thing for Link. Malon had stubbornly refused to reveal what it was until Link guessed correctly, but he had quickly given up.

"There's so much food... do ya expect ME to eat all of this? I'd git quite the belly ache if I did!" Talon continued, scooting his large chair closer to the table.

"No Dad," Malon chided, sliding plates towards their owners as she spoke. "Just eat one. I made enough so that there would be one for everybody."

A look of mock realization hit the Rancher's face. "Oh! Now I git it, but... there's one more than usual here..."

"That's because Link's here, Dad."

"Oh, Link!" As if seeing him for the first time, Talon reached a big hairy arm over the table to his guest, gently shaking the tiny hand that was offered. "Nice ta' meetcha'!" When only a polite nod was given in response, Talon released the boy and asked him, "How'd you wind up getting roped into lunch with us today?"

"I saw him riding on Epona," Malon said, trying her best not to sound like a tattle-tell.

"Really?" Not quite sure what to think about that, Talon took a moment to think and chew the first bite of his lunch. It wasn't until halfway through that he realized he had the pulpy remains of a flower head in his mouth. Not wanting to embarrass himself or insult his daughter's cooking, he swallowed it with a small wince that went unnoticed. "Erm, how'd you wind up on Epona?"

It wasn't an accusatory question, and it didn't seem anything more than friendly curiosity, but Link felt nervous and just a little guilty nonetheless. He was saved the trouble of explaining himself, however. Before he could find the right way to phrase his excuse without lying, Malon answered for him.

"He's been here before – or maybe I saw him in town, I can't remember." Malon turned to Link. "Was it here on the ranch?" At his nod, she continued, "So he visited the ranch and played with me for a while and I taught him Mom's song. He left and then he played the song on his blue flute and Epona heard it so she ran off because she likes the song so much."

"That must be some amazin' flute," Talon said, raising his eyebrows. "Y'think I can hear a song?"

That idea sounded good to Malon. "Yeah, play another song Link! What other songs do you know?" Sensing that his audience wouldn't take no for an answer, Link got his ocarina out once again. He thought back to what he knew and what he thought ranchers would enjoy. Maybe that funny little tune the scarecrow had helped him come up with...

"I'm going back outside," Ingo grunted, rising from his chair. His plate had nothing but crumbs and purple petals left on it. While the others had been chatting, he had evidently wolfed down his meal in silence. The more cheerful residents of Lon Lon Ranch went ahead and made their token efforts at keeping him there.

"Aw, Ingo, you don't want to hear the kid play somethin'?"

"Yeah Mr. Ingo, he's really good! You'll like it!"

"Hmph."

Watching the grumpy man begin to leave, Link reconsidered his song choice. What was the name of the one he had learned in Clocktown's Milk Bar? He ran his fingers over his ocarina's holes to see if he still remembered it. It wasn't all that impressive with only one instrument playing, but he could go ahead and try to fill in the other parts...Well, it was worth a try at least.

"This one is called 'The Ballad of the Windfish." With the simple preface, he began playing. When Link raised the instrument, everyone's attention snapped back to him, even Ingo's, despite the gruff man's intentions. When the ocarina began filling the small farmhouse with a sound that was so powerful it was almost visible, the attention stayed on him.

He thought back to what the Zora conductor had taught him. The sounds of drums beating, guitar strings twanging, and brass pipes somehow not being obnoxious ran through his imagination as he let his natural musical talent take control. He blew softly and let the song bounce off the walls - this had the effect of pleasantly cocooning everyone inside sweet, swirling sound.

The ballad was upbeat, yet gentle; it had been composed to evoke happiness. Opening his eyes to sneak a peek, Link could see that it was obviously succeeding in its goal. Malon was clapping her hands just a little off the beat and Talon had a wide grin plastered across his face as he tapped his foot. Ingo was turned away and his face wasn't visible, but he hadn't left like he had said he would. Based on his previous dealings with the man, Link figured this was as good as it probably got with him.

He played on for some time, indulging himself in a few creative additions to the main melody before finally finishing with a small flourish. The applause he received caused the tips of his pointed ears to go red for a moment.

"Bravo boy, bravo!"

"Yeah! Wooo! I told you, huh?"

"..."

The only one not joining in was, predictably, the tall man with the bushy mustache. Link thought that he did look affected, although 'dumbstruck' might have been a more accurate word. He was now facing forward, but he seemed frozen in a rather forced expression of neutrality. Before long, though, his legs started moving again even if his face did not. As the cheers continued, he slowly made his way to the door, only turning around for a moment before opening it. He looked straight at the musician who had just performed, a questioning arch in his brow. It seemed like he was considering asking something, but the look disappeared and with a snort he walked out the door.

"Yep, I can see why Epona'd take a likin' to ya," A heavy clap on his shoulder brought Link's focus back towards those still in the room. Either Talon had missed Ingo's reaction or he had chosen to ignore it. "You've got a mighty fine talent there. Keep it up and you could do that fer a livin'!" The very idea of it seemed to tickle the man. "Imagine, playin' songs and gettin' paid! Yep, showbiz is where the rupees are at, boy, you just wait and see."

With a battle cry, an energized little girl leaped onto her daddy's back. With practiced ease, Talon caught her thin legs and held her steadily. "I loved that one! How did you get so good?"

This gave Link pause. "Well, I..." Memories of sunny afternoons watching Saria toot on her fairy ocarina came rushing by, followed closely by the casual lessons she gave that would invariably be interrupted by games of hide-and-seek or who-can-spin-around-the-fastest-without-falling-down. The smoothness of the Ocarina of Time finally felt after the third dive into Hyrule Castle's moat, the first whispers of ancient power he heard as he tried a C sharp, the earnest instruction of Malon herself... all these things whipped by in the Hero of Time's head.

"I've had a lot of practice."

"Well it has sure paid off!" Talon pried his little girl off his back and set her back down. "And fer a show like that, I'd say you've earned the fun you've had with Epona." It was unintentional, but the mentioning of this rekindled a little fire in Malon.

"Yeah, I guess, but why were you riding around on her in the first place?"

"Oh." Link shrugged. He had hoped to glaze over this, but it couldn't be helped now. "Well, I'm looking for a friend of mine."

"A friend?" Malon questioned. "Are they lost?"

"Well, I think so. I don't think she'd just run off without telling me."

"Hmm. So she's a 'she' huh?" Talon turned back to his meal, carefully inspected his next potential bite for plant life that shouldn't be there, and chewed thoughtfully before continuing. "What's her name?"

No reason to fib about that. "Navi."

"That's a weird name." After a meaningful look from her father, Malon edited herself. "What I mean is, uh, I've never heard of anybody named Navi. Is she a Zora?"

"No... she's a fairy." That hung in the air for just a bit. Link was suddenly aware that he was being examined quite closely by both people in the room.

"A fairy? Like the sparkly magic things that fly around in the forest?" Malon was smitten with the idea. "Dad has told me all kinds of stories about them. I wish I had a fairy to be my best friend! Or my second best friend, I don't think Epona would like it if I forgot about her."

"Well, she was more of a, uh..." Link was surprised to find it was something of a struggle to find the right word to describe Navi. "She helped me figure out what to do and she kept me safe."

"Sounds sorta like what a guardian's job is."

Link was a little taken aback by how fast Talon had found the word. "Yeah! We were always together, but she was suddenly just... gone."

"A fairy. Well don't that beat all! I can't say I've ever seen more than a couple myself, and they weren't all that talkative ta me. You're sayin' a fairy looked after ya, Link?" Talon's forehead wrinkled a bit in worry. "Where are your, ah... parents?"

As the boy's eyes turned a bit towards the floor, the rancher became keenly aware that he might have phrased his last statement differently. "I mean, uh, has Navi always been watchin' out for ya?"

"Well, there were others who took care of me, but my Mom and Dad... they're gone." Link didn't really feel sad, he had never known them. Still, it did make him feel funny when he thought about his parents. A bit of silence descended after this, and for a moment Link thought he had said something wrong. Talon soon broke the spell, however.

"No need to say any more, Link." The boy noticed that he was being looked at in a completely different way now. The way Talon was talking seemed a lot more serious, too. "So were you by yourself out there?"

"Well, I had Epona with me."

"Ah, well she's good company ta be sure, but I'm sure she's not quite the talker Navi was."

"Yeah, Navi liked to talk a whole lot."

"Did she now?"

"Yeah, she would always be showing me new things to look at, and she would never let me forget important stuff. I was really happy to have her around."

Normally Talon would've assumed that a boy showing up on his ranch talking about fairies was just telling stories, but the boy seemed honest. Besides that, he was dressed up strange, had some serious musical talent, and had evidently come riding in on his most wild horse. If there was a fairy involved somehow, well, that wasn't beyond the realm of belief. He still didn't know what quite to make of the kid, but he was a nice enough sort. Maybe something could be done for him...

"Well, I'm sure you'll be able ta find her." Downing his milk in one go and grabbing the remainder of his sandwich, Talon headed for the door. "I've got ta git back ta work, but you should stay and finish your lunch. And I know Malon could use some company for a bit." Something of an idea was beginning to form in his head, but he needed a bit of time to mull it over. With a smile, a wave, and the creak of a door he was gone.

With the adult out of the house, Link noticed that Malon had been quiet for some time now. After hearing what she said next, he understood why.

"You don't have your Mom either?" It was spoken softly, and it wasn't really a question. Malon's voice was a bit shaky now, but it also held a new sense of camaraderie in it. "My Mom... she went away a little while ago, but I still have Dad. I don't know what I'd do if he was gone too." She looked at the boy in green, wondering why he didn't look more sad than he did.

"I'm okay," Link assured.

"Oh." Malon felt like there was more she should probably say, but she couldn't think of anything.

Lacking the words and the maturity to properly continue the conversation, both children silently turned their attentions back to their untouched food. Sipping tentatively at her milk, Malon frowned. She had let it stay out too long without drinking it, now it tasted funny.

"Is it a house?"

"What?" Link's nonsensical statement caused Malon to do a bit of a double-take.

'The picture you made on my sandwich with the flowers," he clarified. "Is it a house?"

"No." Malon replied, indignantly. "It's a grasshopper."

Link balked. "Why'd you do a grasshopper?"

"'Cause you look like one," Malon said, matter-of-factly.

She bit into her sandwich to cover up her giggling.

_Aw, I couldn't find a way to end the story with the line, "Link drew his sword and went to work," without forcing something ridiculous. I had kind of planned on making that the final line of every chapter. Oh well, no sense in restricting myself anyhow. What do you think about losing that line? What do you think about characterization, diction, and figurative language? Should I find more synonyms for the word 'giggle'? (It's hard!) Tell me what you think! And as always, thanks for reading!_


	4. Private Lessons

_Glad to see most of you thought the conversation involving Link's parents was realistically handled. Let's see if I can keep that believability going. Also, a big 'Gracias' goes out to that one guy from Puerto Rico who has looked at my story so many times! (Don't you just love the cool little traffic bar graphs you get in your account?) _

_Moving on up! Chapter four! Woo!_

Link fidgeted uncomfortably under the expectant pair of eyes fixed squarely upon him.

"C'mon, you promised me." Easy for her to say, but that didn't make it any less weird. The fact that she seemed so focused on it was a little unnerving as well.

"I... I just don't know..."

"A promise is a promise, and it just wouldn't be right to go back on one." This spoke to Link's conscience, but he still wavered.

"What if instead, we-"

"No."

"I don't know if you-"

"No," Malon spoke with finality, cutting him off and ending the conversation. Then, her eyes alight with anticipation, she wet her lips. "I'm ready."

Link really didn't want to do this, but he wasn't one to make excuses over and over. It was true that he had rather foolishly agreed to this just moments earlier, but he had held on to the hope that she might forget if he introduced her to some other games or diversions. He had tried catching her attention with his slingshot, shooting a few acorns at distant targets with faux casualty. When she had simply complimented his aim, he had produced his boomerang; he threw it so that it flew around the full circumference of the Lon Lon barn before deftly catching it and offering it to the clapping girl to try. She had politely declined and insisted on continuing on with what she had been promised. In his desperation, he had even tried to get her interested in his bunny hood, something he was somewhat embarrassed of. Malon had loved it and was now sporting some very stylish rabbit ears, but even this could not deter her. The girl's single-minded determination rivaled even the Hero of Time's, but he had not the luxury of referencing a promise and producing guilt. His bag of tricks now empty of interesting things (that wouldn't endanger lives, that is), Link stood defeated.

With morbid fascination, he looked at Malon's waiting lips, almost shuddering at the thought of where they would be in a moment. Nevertheless, taking a deep breath, he stepped forward – and put the Ocarina of Time in the innocent girl's hands.

"Yippee!" Her joy was heartfelt. And very, very loud. "Thank you! I know this is special, so I'll be really, really careful with it." True to her word, she cradled her new prize like she would a newborn calf.

"Yeah, well... give me back my bunny hood," Link said, immediately regretting his somewhat bratty tone. So what if she played around with his ocarina for a little while, she couldn't very well ruin it. Or could she...? No, no matter how he tried to justify his reluctance – the item was a responsibility entrusted to him by Zelda, Malon might break it, the fact that even he had no idea just how far the power of this ancient artifact went – all of it just boiled down to a boy feeling protective of his favorite toy.

"Oh, the hat?" Malon didn't even look up as she took off and handed back the flopping rabbit ears. Link put them away quickly, not caring about them in the slightest right now.

Still, to his credit, he did his best to sound more mature and civil as he asked, "So what kind of song do you want to play? Do you want me to show you how to do Epona's song? It's not that hard." '_And it wouldn't take nearly as long for you to learn something you already know_,' he added in his head.

Malon did look up at that. "Ooh! You could teach me how...?" But then she seemed to think better of it. Maintaining her enthusiasm and using the same voice she used when she wanted a something from her Dad, the girl posed a new question. "What if you taught me something new, though? I can already sing Epona's song real well. Your version is pretty, but I think I'd like to try something different."

A small sigh escaped Link, which Malon ignored. "Well..." What other songs did he know that wouldn't be dangerous or scary? Link thought about the possibilities.

Malon would probably enjoy talking to Saria, but that might be a little scary, too. Link had been unnerved by his friend's voice in his head, anyway. The songs that would send Malon careening off to the Temples scattered around Hyrule were out for sure. It would take more than an apology to Talon to set things right if he found out his daughter had been warped to the inside of Death Mountain. Better stay away from time travel and weather, too. That just left one thing. "Alright, I've got one. It's pretty easy. It's actually the first song I ever learned to play right."

"Oh yeah?" This seemed promising to the girl. What better place to start than where he had?"Okay, I guess I should start with kind of an easy one. What kind of song is it? Happy or sad? I want to learn a happy one, like the one you played before." Then, as a curious afterthought, "Who taught you your first song? Who helped you get so good?"

The assault of questions jumbled Link's thoughts up for a bit, but he eventually got the answers straight in his head."It's a lullaby." Malon seemed satisfied with that. She liked all the lullabies she had been on the receiving end of.

"Um, I don't really think it's sad. I don't know if it's happy either, though." Link paused for a bit after that, both considering what he had just said and what he still had to say. "The woman who taught me the song; she wasn't the one who taught me how to play an ocarina. My friend Saria did that."

Malon interjected here. "She taught you how to play, but didn't teach you any songs?"

"Well, she taught me the notes and where to put your fingers," Link explained. "And how to hold it right, and how hard to blow, and all that. She tried teaching me a few songs, but I can't remember any of those now. She's taught me a really cool song since then, but that was after I learned the lullaby."

"When did you learn the lullaby?" Malon asked, preparing to calculate how long it would take her to become a famous flute player if she started now.

"Um, a little while ago," Link said vaguely, not completely sure himself. "I learned it in Castle Town. A woman named Impa taught me. She was nice, even though she was kind of scary."

"Oh, okay." Becoming a bit bored with the history of the song now, Malon was eager to get on with playing something herself. "So how's it go?"

"Well it starts off with a, uh... Hmm, uh..." To Link's surprise, a blank popped into his head. The boy knew that if he had his instrument in his hands, he could play it without hesitation, but trying to explain it to somebody else was something he was completely inexperienced in.

"Let me see it for a second." A gesture towards the ocarina made his intention clear, if not welcome.

It was Malon's turn to sound a bit bratty now. She hugged the Ocarina of Time close to her body and turned away a bit, protecting it. "But you said I could play now..."

Link backed off, sensing his inevitable defeat if he continued on in this way. Luckily, another possibility occurred to him. "Well, uh, why don't you just hold it and... and I'll show you which holes to cover up."

"Okay." Somewhat warily, Malon raised the instrument up in both hands. Then, with similar hesitation she attempted to splay her fingers out so that they covered all the holes."Uh, like this?"

"No, not really." Link said, wondering if it hurt her to stretch her hands like that. "Just hold it at the sides for a little bit."

She did as she was told while considering how weird it was to make something that sounded so nice in such a funny shape. Her reflection smiled up at her from the shiny blue surface of the ocarina.

"Now just go ahead and blow," Link said, acutely aware that he wasn't very good at teaching. When Malon did, the resulting noise was airy and weak at first, then shrill as she blew harder. A faint ringing in the ears was shared by both children when the sour note faded.

"Oh no," Malon lamented, her shoulders slumping, "I can't do it right."

"No, that was fine," Link lied, shaking his head a bit in an effort to shake off the lingering buzz in his head. "All you need to do is blow harder than you did at first and softer than you did at the end. Blow into it, uh..." Struggling at trying to articulate his thoughts, he settled on, "Medium. Blow into it medium."

"I'll do it better this time," Malon promised, speaking to both Link and herself. "Okay. Medium." Saying it out loud and closing her eyes, Malon produced another unpleasant sound, but it was decidedly less physically painful. Instead of making her try that again, Link got a bit closer and placed his two index fingers over two of the holes in his ocarina. After craning his neck a bit in an attempt to see from his usual vantage point, he nodded, confident that he was covering up the correct spots.

"Now try blowing a little softer than that."

She was starting to feel a bit frustrated already, but Malon didn't give up easy. Whilst repeating the word 'Medium' over and over again in her head she tried again, and this time a wavering but relatively clean note was created. Excited, she did it again, longer this time. Then a series of short, staccato notes, each one a bit better than the last. With their combined efforts, Link and Malon soon had the first note from Zelda's Lullaby down perfectly.

"That sounded good, right?" The budding musician's happy voice made it obvious that she thought so.

"Yeah, that was great," Link encouraged, "Now let's do the next note." Frowning and doing a quick circle behind Malon so that he could see the holes from the direction he was used to, Link pointed out a third hole that he hadn't been blocking up. "You see that one? Cover that up with one of your fingers and I'll cover up the same ones I did last time." Repositioning himself in front of her, he once again used his pointer fingers to seal the openings.

Nodding, Malon followed the instructions again, to the best of her ability. The next note sounded off to Link, however. "Make sure you hold it tight. If you let any air out at all, it'll sound weird."

After five more tries it was pretty good. After that, she even succeeded in covering all the holes herself. Still, the tones lacked the strength and depth that could only come with practice and confidence. Malon was also finding lots of other unexpected obstacles. "It kind of hurts to press against it very hard," Malon complained. She held up her pinky reddened finger, a circular indentation clearly visible. "Do I have to hold it so tight?"

"Not so tight that it hurts," Link agreed, "But you have to do it enough to where the air doesn't get out. Part of it may be that your fingers are pretty small."

This caused the redhead to frown. "My hands are too small for this?"

"No," Link said, but considered the problem a moment as he looked a bit closer at her thin digits which were once again placed in their former positions. The tiny tip of her pinky was straining to reach the hole it covered.

"You should try holding it different on that side," he suggested, moving her hands with his own and placing each of her fingers into a more practical position. Neither child was embarrassed by the contact, but Malon did wonder briefly at the surprisingly rough texture of the hands that manipulated hers. Not that hers were all that soft either – a life of hard work on the ranch was already taking a certain toll – but she lacked the numerous callouses that came with a life of danger and swordsmanship.

"Oh, okay. So I do it like this." She looked hard at her current positioning, trying to store the image away for future reference. "So now I can do it right, right?" It was indeed more comfortable this way, and Malon was able to make her desired note clearly after a few more tries.

"And that's the second note," Link congratulated. He had to admit, he was kind of enjoying the role of instructor now. It wasn't nearly as annoying as he had expected it would be, and it was fun watching Malon's face light up as she succeeded. "Now there's just one more."

"Just one more note? The whole song just has three notes?"

"Well, that's the basic version, but yeah."

"That's really short." She stated, not really annoyed so much as confused. "And this was how you learned it?"

"You do three notes, and then you repeat them again," Link said, trying to make it sound as appealing as possible, "and it sounds great if you can do it with the right timing. If you do that, then I could maybe teach you the longer version."

Malon grinned wide, confident. "No problem! I can do three easy. Now show me how to do the third one..."

* * *

"I can't do it!" Malon wailed, close to tears. For the last fifteen minutes she had kept at it, trying her best to string together the three notes she had learned. She could now consistently produce each one, sometimes on the first try, but she felt like her fingers didn't want to listen to her when she tried to tell them to move. Her left hand seemed to want all her attention, but when she stopped looking, her right hand would start goofing around without her. It seemed to take forever for her to get to the next note, and by the time she did, she knew it had been too long. Link had patiently continued to offer advice, telling her to let her fingers remember where they should go on their own, but that didn't make any sense. Her fingers couldn't do anything without her.

"Maybe you could try closing your eyes. That helps me get it right." The suggestion was met with a glare and an exasperated outburst.

"Close my eyes? How would that help? I'd start doing it even worse!" The downtrodden girl's voice started turning from fiery to self-pitying. "I'm just no good." Link cringed, not liking being in this situation one bit. Part of him just wanted to end it by taking the ocarina back, but in the end he knew it wouldn't just end there. This was rapidly becoming less fun, but he was determined to help Malon get it right. She needed help and he would give it because, after all, helping people was just the right thing to do.

Taking a moment to gather a measure of his boundless courage, Link repeated, "Close your eyes," while doing his best to sound like he knew what he was doing.

Malon looked like she wanted to argue further, but when her eyes met Link's serious gaze, she relented with a small "Hmph."

"Now do the first note," Link continued, thinking back to how he had learned the song.

Malon's fingers wriggled around the cool, slick, and now totally alien landscape of the ocarina, searching for their proper places. She started breathing faster, the frustration of it all getting the best of her. "I-I can't see where to put my fingers!" Malon whined, opening her eyes and trying to set the instrument she held on fire with her glare.

"Just close your eyes." Link's calm voice did little to assuage the annoyance Malon felt, but she did as he said nonetheless. Link then approached her and moved her fingers to where they needed to be. "Now hold tight, and do it."

Malon blew immediately, and with unnecessary force. Her fingers pushed against the instrument without precision or care, seemingly more interested in crushing it that making it produce a harmonious sound. Link's ears were soon ringing again. "See! I can't even do the first note right anymore!" Malon exclaimed, triumphant in her defeat.

With a sigh and a quick look to make sure Malon's eyes were still closed, Link repositioned the fingers over their proper holes. "Don't do it yet," Link commanded, stopping what had looked like an attempt to head-butt his ocarina. "First... first try to calm down." The girl's reluctance to do this was obvious, so Link tried another approach. Reaching into his tunic, he quickly found what he was looking for. "Um, here... put this on again."

"Put what-" but she stopped when she opened her eyes and saw the beady eyes and fluffy yellow ears of the bunny hood. She tried to fight it, tried as hard as she could, but she let a small smile slip as she looked at it bend to and fro with the slightest breeze. Without waiting for permission, Link slipped it onto her head, nodding at the effect it was having. Malon was doing her best to stay in her funk, but was all but charmed back to her usual good humor.

"There. Now close your eyes..." He waited, and she eventually complied, "...and put your fingers here and here..." she did so, with his help, "...and do the first note."

She didn't at first, instead she took a couple of deep breaths, obviously invested again. She checked and re-checked the tightness of the seals she had created. She shuffled her feet, suppressing a giggle after a stray piece of grass made itself known by rubbing up against her ticklish ankle. Then, chanting a mantra of 'Medium' in her head, she blew out a very gentle, very pretty, and very uplifting sound. It bounced around the obstacles surrounding it and melted away like sugar in hot water, leaving a sweet tinge in the air and in Malon's mood.

As the last traces of her sourness fled, Malon felt her hands being moved again. Instead of opening her eyes and trying to see the spot she remembered, she merely allowed herself to be guided and when she was prompted to, she blew again. This sound was even nicer than the previous one had been. A giddiness and even a kind of fright started to overtake the girl – she was doing better than she had ever done. She could keep getting better... or she could lose her tenuous grasp on what she had. Her fingering was being directed again, and she squeezed her eyes closed even tighter, a superstitious ferocity now fueling her.

She made the final note ring out – and to her dismay it was fairly flat. She felt the urge to give up again rise in her stomach. She also felt her third finger get replaced by her ring finger over a hole. Refocusing, she tried again, and this time she smiled at what she heard.

"Was that right?" she ventured, sneaking a peek out of her right eye so as to gauge Link's reaction.

"That was right!" He cheered, and then added on, "I told you closing your eyes helped."

"Well, I guess it might've helped a little bit..." She seemed loathe to admit it, but her spark of interest was rekindled in earnest now.

Not wanting to lose any momentum, Link immediately started again."Here, let's do it a little more. We can do it even faster than that!"

They went on in this fashion for a while, Malon repeating the notes while Link helped her achieve the correct fingering. In fact, they repeated the series of notes so many times, Malon now knew what the song was supposed to sound like. The melodious _toot-toot-toot_ of the lullaby swam into her head and practically possessed her. In fact, she was so caught up in everything that she didn't even notice it when Link stopped moving her fingers for her. She merely continued on; she was so used to the positions that she did it automatically, without thinking.

Pleased with himself for being so clever, and also with Malon for doing so well in such a short period of time, Link plopped down on the grass. He actually felt a little worn out from everything that had happened today, but he let the lullaby soothe him. It was still nothing but three notes repeating over and over again, but the tempo was becoming fairly consistent and there was a pure emotion in it. That emotion, the emotion of a girl's first ever performance, lent it a special something that Link recognized but could not explain.

He listened and she played for a long time. Malon only stopped when she felt the bunny hood get pushed off her head by the wind, and by the time Link had stopped laughing, the ecstatic girl had realized she had done everything all by herself.

* * *

That evening, after dinner had been eaten and Ingo had quickly disappeared, the newly confident Malon decided to showcase her talents. The small living area of the house that everyone was in now did make an excellent auditorium. The intimate space was adorned with simple, cozy furnishings that, while not all that colorful, still produced cheerful vibrations. Handwoven blankets with warm memories in the fibers were draped over the backs of overstuffed chairs. Pretty wooden carvings, a few pictographs, and even a selection of Malon's drawings adorned the walls. Malon felt safe and self-assured here, and on top of this, the people in the room would make great listeners.

"Do you want to hear a song, Dad?"

Talon had gotten a bit sleepy, as he always did after eating, and had almost nodded off in his comfortable seat while watching Malon and her new friend tell each other stories. His daughter's voice had always done the trick when it came to getting him alert, though. "Oh, does Link have somethin' else ta show us?" He asked, sincerely intrigued.

"Actually..." she seemed almost shy about it at first, but finished with a powerful exuberance as she produced the ocarina she had been hiding behind her. "I learned something!"

"Did ya' now?" Sitting up in his chair, her father delighted her with his rapt attention. "Well, don't keep me waitin' now, sweetheart!"

Looking over at Link and taking strength from his smile, Malon closed her eyes tight and found what she thought were the right holes. The produced tone wasn't right, however, and she frowned as she looked at where her fingers had been. "Oops. Lemme try again."

The second try resulted in a nice first note, but a faltering, premature ending soon after. Her father considered offering some reassuring words, but they didn't really seem necessary; Malon was getting right back on the horse.

Making sure she had her fingers placed in the right spots, Malon closed her eyes one more time, breathing slowly. She thought about how it had felt to play it a few hours ago, outside with Link. Imagining the floor had grass, the roof was gone, and a bunny hood was on her head, Malon blew _medium _three times. In between each blow, her fingers moved quickly, directed by phantom hands that could still be felt.

She didn't stop there, she repeated those three notes, and then she did it again, and a fourth time. Then she did it in as many ways as she could think of.

She did it fast, and she did it slow. She did it medium speed. She did it while spinning around, and she did it lying down. She tried to do it while rolling on the ground, but when she rolled on top of her instrument it threw off her timing and the song died. Despite ending a bit sooner than she had wanted to, Malon still had a grin that spread from ear to ear when she hopped up and took a short bow.

Talon, of course, gave a standing ovation. "Well if that ain't the prettiest dern thing I ever heard. How'd you git to be so good in just one day?"

Malon just turned away, enjoying the compliments. "It wasn't all that great, it was just three notes..."

"That was a lot more n' three notes, I counted at least twenty! And yer dance was quite creative."

"Yeah, you did Zelda's Lullaby really well." Link added, helping Talon in swelling Malon's head. "You learned fast."

Malon somewhat bashfully thanked Link while her father tilted his head in interest at the boy's words. "Zelda's Lullaby?"

"Oh yeah. This was my friend Zelda's favorite song, the song that helped her go to sleep."

"You mean you got a friend named Zelda?" Talon asked, smiling, "Why that's sweet. No better way to say 'Yer my little princess' than ta name yer kid after a real life one, I guess."

"Oh, a princess?" Malon picked that one word out of what her father said and followed up on it. "Is this a Princess's song?"

"Naw, sweetheart-" Talon began apologetically, but was cut off.

"Yep!" Link proudly boasted. "I'm friends with the Princess and that song you learned is her favorite one!"

"Really?" Malon almost couldn't dare to believe it, but the idea was just too wonderful to not be true. "This is a princess's song?" She had just learned a princess's song!

Talon stopped himself from saying anything else – where was the harm in the kids having fun with their make-believe? He just chuckled and watched them talk and 'ooh' and 'aah' about it for awhile.

Just as he was starting to get sleepy again, Malon brought him back from the brink. "Hey Dad, is Link going to stay tonight? Can he please?"

That's right, he still had something important to do. Scolding himself for almost passing out (something he was doing more and more of these days), Talon turned to Link who was currently busy wiping off the mouthpiece of his ocarina with the front of his tunic.

"Link, I uh..." Still drowsy, it took Talon a moment to assemble his thoughts into words. "Link, I've got somethin' of an idea." The boy stopped cleaning his instrument and politely turned his full attention to Talon. "But first I was wonderin'... where were you headin' off to with Epona before Malon wrangled you into stayin' fer dinner?"

"I was going to go to Castle Town," Link answered, suddenly recalling his current problems. "I don't know where Navi is and I've been looking for a little while, but I thought it might be a good place to ask some people."

"That's what I figured." Talon sat back in his chair, pleased with the validity of his previous deduction. "Not many folks pass by here that ain't coming from or headin' to the Castle. Me and Malon ourselves go down there every week to deliver our famous Lon Lon Milk," Talon continued, a hint of pride in his voice, "It's about all we can do to keep up with the orders. Yep, the King- and the Princess-" a meaningful emphasis was placed on that, "love our stuff!"

"Yeah, I do too!" Talon smiled at Link's endorsement, thanked him, and went on.

"Anyways, I was thinkin' that maybe me and Malon could help you look fer Navi when we head down to deliver our shipment inna few days. You could stay here until we head out."

Malon exploded. "Really, Dad? Link can stay for that long?" She wasted no time in beginning preliminary schedules. "Link, you can sleep with my in my room and we can do the chores really fast together tomorrow morning and then have the rest of the day to do all kinds of stuff!" She barely paused to breathe. "You can teach me more songs and I can teach you more cooking stuff and we can, we can, we can..." Seemingly stuck in a loop, Malon paced around the room in an effort to release all the excess energy flooding her system.

Link smiled, a little excited at the prospect himself. How long had it been since he had been able to stay with someone and just play games? Today had been pretty fun by itself, and it would probably just get better from here. Still, his nagging sense of duty (and also a small bit of his dignity) compelled him to make something known.

"You don't have to help me look... and I can make the trip by myself, I've done it before lots of times."

"Ah, I don't doubt it." Talon acknowledged, "I've seen that big pig-sticker of yers. I know ya kin probably take care a yerself. But you've had Navi with ya on most of yer trips, am I right?" Link couldn't deny this, and had to nod. "It's always good to have someone watchin' yer back out there, son. I'd feel better if we went with ya."

"You're going to come with us, right Link?" Malon shamelessly utilized her best sympathy-invoking face, even quivering her bottom lip a little for good measure.

It wasn't needed, as Link had hoped to stay from the start – but he still felt a little bad about not looking for Navi immediately. It was true that he didn't have any real direction yet, but he could be finding one... No, no it was better this way. They were right after all – it was good to have someone there to watch out for you. When he had been alone not too long ago, that Skullkid had gotten to him...

"O-Okay, I'll stay," Link relinquished, eliciting cheers from both ranchers. "But I want to help out while I'm here."

"Oh, a'course you'll be doin' that, I wouldn't have it any other way!" Talon joked, his laughter practically booming. Already lying in bed, Ingo softly cursed at the obtrusive noise and put his pillow over his head.

* * *

As crickets chirped outside the windows and Talon snored down the hall, Malon talked happily beneath her covers. She was immensely excited, nobody had ever spent the night with her before. Except for that one girl who had come to buy a Cucco, but that didn't count because she had gotten scared and had left to go to sleep with her dad in the living room.

But now Link was here, tucked into a comfy pallet of blankets on her floor. He didn't seem like he would run off, and where would he run off to anyway? No, he wouldn't go anywhere. It was a real sleep-over! He was staying up and talking with her (or agreeing once in awhile, anyway), he would feed the animals with her tomorrow, and, ooh!, maybe he would let her play with his sword and shield...!

But, sadly, as she continued to go over various plans for tomorrow, Link's noises of affirmation began to sound softer and farther away. Despite her offer of telling scary stories, it was obvious that he was starting to go to sleep. This annoyed Malon at first, and she thought about going off to find something cold to put down his blankets, but then she looked at his face and relented.

He really did look exhausted. It was hard to make out in the dark, even though Malon's vision had adjusted long ago, but it seemed as if there were small dark circles under his eyes. He was also rubbing his face softly into his pillow, obviously enjoying the sensation of the soft fabric against the side of his face. It was funny, and kind of cute too – it looked sort of like how Epona sometimes rubbed against her cheek, Malon thought.

So instead of waking him up, Malon began to softly sing the small lullaby Link had taught her, adding in a few innovations of her own. When she had tired of that, she began humming Epona's song; the song her mother had used to soothe her at night. And after that, just before she herself fell asleep, Malon rolled over to the side of her bed, leaned over the edge, and gave Link a quick peck on the cheek like Mom had always done when it was time to go to bed.

The boy rolled over, but stayed fast asleep. Smiling and anxious for the sun to rise, Malon snuggled down into a more comfortable position beneath her sheets and closed her eyes. Tomorrow would be a great day.

_Alright, now the exposition is winding down and I think that next chapter we might start some, dare I say it, conflict and plot development (gasp)!_

_Thanks for reading, and uh, if you feel so inclined, I would really like some feedback (hint, hint). I'll try and get it out by next week, anyway. See ya then!_


	5. Ingo's Dark Secret

_Alrighty then boys and girls, let's continue. Again, major thanks go out to those who reviewed – and let me go ahead and give some shout outs to y'all anonymous reviewers, too. I like giving review replies, but since I can't give anything to people without accounts, I'll just give a heartfelt 'thanks' to Kitsune, Rad Scorpion, and Shiek the Shiekah for being there with me in the opening chapters. _

_This chapter goes out to you guys!_

Many hard working men and women rise before the dawn in Hyrule. There just aren't enough hours of sunlight to complete all the things that need doing – there are crops to grow, clothes to sew, places to go; but be this as it may, there are few people who wake up as early as Ingo.

He has always had multitudes of pet peeves, but losing at anything is chief among them. Unfortunately, this can get frustrating when one views everything as a competition. Making the most rupees, having the most respect, having the most power; all of these were contests and of prime importance in Ingo's mind. Which was a shame. In all of these contests he was a loser and he knew it.

So he bitterly settled for smaller victories. Who was the tallest on the ranch? Who had the largest mustache? Who could wake up the soonest? The answer to all these questions was Ingo, and sometimes that was all that got him through the day.

Simple spite wasn't all that drove him out of bed this dark morning, though. There was something he had to do. Just thinking about it had made getting to sleep last night next to impossible.

Getting out of bed hurriedly, he got dressed and rummaged through his sock drawer for the book that lay hidden within. He held it in his hand for a brief moment, just feeling the weight and thinking about the foolish thing he was about to do.

He couldn't fight it anymore, it had to be done. That boy... that boy and his toy whistle had reminded him and now he couldn't focus on anything anymore. He would have to break the promise he had made to himself all those years ago. He would lose his mind otherwise.

But nobody could be a witness to it.

His room here wasn't safe, despite the fact that everyone was probably asleep. It was just too risky; sometimes the bumbling owner of this dump would have lazed around so much the previous day that he would rise before the cucco's call. No, he would have to get somewhere far away from everyone. He would have to leave quickly and return before the sun rose – and by the way the sky looked through his window, that didn't give him much time.

The book was stashed in a rough burlap sack along with the pouch of rupees that Ingo had hidden under his mattress. He didn't really plan on buying anything, but his paranoia wouldn't permit leaving his money unguarded. Breakfast was considered after this, but too much time had been wasted already. He could eat when he returned.

He swung the pack over his shoulder, opened his creaking door, closed his creaking door, and cursed at his creaking door. Surely he would be caught if he made so much racket! Trying his very best to be stealthy, the ranch hand carefully, but clumsily tip-toed across the dusty floor that stood between him and the door that led outside. He was so focused on not making any noise, in fact, that he didn't quite see the shovel that had slipped away from it's position on the wall to lay on the ground in front of him. After slipping on the rounded handle and banging his knee on the cold metal, it was all Ingo could do not to vocally vent his seething fury. The clanging he had just created also made him think about turning around and hiding back in his bed – the brat or her nosy new friend could be on their way right now to check out the commotion... but no. No, he could not stop and he would not allow himself to be set back another day. Almost not caring about the unbearable screeching the rusted hinges of the next door gave, Ingo purposefully headed outside towards the horses' stables.

The stables could have almost been called shoddy, but the animals within enjoyed a certain kind of luxury. They were given all the food and attention they needed, they were brushed twice a day, they were never forgotten when a surplus of carrots or apples was about, and above all else they were given a proper respect. For the most part.

The only shadow in the life of a Lon Lon horse was the unnecessarily rough treatment from the man who was currently doing his best to feel his way to where his usual steed was. In the third stall from the entrance was the poor animal that Ingo was looking for, sleeping soundly, blissfully unaware. His shiny black coat did wonders at keeping him invisible in the dark, but the blueprint of the stables was all but burned into Ingo's mind after countless hours of manure shoveling. A few minutes and two stubbed toes later and the determined man was able to find everything he needed to get going. His horse didn't seem to appreciate getting woken up by the frayed saddle that was unceremoniously slapped on its back, but it shuffled its hooves in weary resignation to the ride ahead nonetheless. Ingo sneered at his mount and gave a few words of encouragement as he was kin to do before any outing.

"Let's go. Quickly now, the glue maker won't wait all day."

The horse was led into the brisk air outside and shook its mane at the sudden sensation of the breeze. Ingo wasn't one to wait for a beast to get its bearings, however. A foot was immediately jammed into a stirrup and a unique half jumping, half crawling technique was utilized to ascend up to the top of the large animal. The unwelcome weight was received with a snort and a halfhearted buck that had an unprepared Ingo tumbling towards the ground instantly, but he was back on his feet just as quickly. This happened more often than not when he wasn't paying full attention so he was used to it, but that didn't mean it ever got any less infuriating. The mocking twinkle in the offending horse's big black eye didn't help. Growling and not in the mood for a training session, the bruised laborer rescaled his steed, wrapped one hand firmly in the reins, and used his other to give a surprisingly loud SLAP to the rump of his current means of transportation.

The blow could hardly have hurt the muscled stallion he sat on, but the pounding gallop that followed made it perfectly clear that Ingo's action had an impact. Though most of his influence came from a kind of raw intimidation, it could not be denied that Ingo had a certain way with animals.

Finally leaving the ranch helped Ingo reclaim a measure of calm. Now where could he go? It had to be a place where he wouldn't be disturbed or spied upon, and that meant options were few. The open field around him felt wrong, like there were eyes everywhere. Travelers sometimes walked the roads at night, and if he ventured too far off the path then there was no guaranteeing his safety. He could try to find a shadowy bend in Zora's River, but his horse probably wouldn't follow him far enough in and would likely bolt away if not kept an eye on. What else did that leave?

Ingo had to admit that he wasn't very well versed in the secretive nooks and crannies around Hyrule. Not that this was surprising, he barely ever saw the use in leaving the confines of Lon Lon Ranch. Just one more thing to file away under failure.

But wait! Without even realizing it, he had been riding towards the obvious answer! There, straight ahead – the winding road to Lake Hylia... sometimes Ingo blew himself away with his own natural genius. The lake wouldn't have anyone around it, why would anybody be at the lake this early in the day? It was nothing more than a glorified playground and picnic area anyway, and the perimeter was huge. If he found himself a good spot, he could see anybody approaching and ride away before they could even think about reaching him. Plenty of sturdy trees to tie the dumb animal up on. The lake. Yes, it was perfect.

Digging in sharply with his heels kept the horse's pace where he wanted it. Fast.

* * *

The lake was a beautiful sight any time of the day, but the perfect stillness and quiet that came with the early morning was moving. No ripples marred the surface of the water - it was like black glass under the fading starlight. As Ingo hurriedly lashed the reins of his ride to a convenient wooden post, he couldn't help but feel like he was disturbing an almost supernatural peace. It gave him pause, but only for a moment.

Looking quickly in all directions to assure his privacy, Ingo pulled the small leather book out of his bag and walked close to the edge of the lake. Upon further consideration he walked a ways down the shore to avoid being watched too closely by his horse. Irrational, he knew, but there was nothing rational about what he was doing anyway.

Once he decided he was far enough away, as if stalling, the man picked up a few small stones and threw them forcefully into the water. The sound each splash made was so quiet it was almost imperceptible. This angered Ingo; he had wanted to have an effect on the calm around him, but it seemed to be swallowing him whole instead.

He was becoming nervous. Someone could see him, something was watching...

"Gah!" Shaking his head and mentally berating himself for his cowardice, Ingo forced himself to flip open to the page he had earmarked and begin doing what he had come to do. What he had to do. What he was ashamed of doing with every fiber of his being. Clearing his throat and shaking slightly despite the fact that he was alone, he began.

"To be, or not to be... that is the question."

His words were spoken plainly and without emotion at first, he also read quietly for fear of being overheard. "Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer...to suffer, ah..." He cleared his throat once more and began again, this time a bit louder. " To be, or not to be... that is the question. To...er... Bah! Pathetic!"

That would never do. His own timid words sounded disgusting in his ears. If he going to do this, he should do it right. His anger at his sad performance fueled him. Forgetting for a moment his fear and shame, Ingo spoke loudly and with melodramatic emotion that startled even him.

"TO BE OR NOT TO BE! HAH! That is the question!" He stopped looking down at the book and carried on from his memory of all the glances stolen late at night. "Whether 'tis nobler to suffer, suffer, SUFFER the slings and arrows of degrading busywork and constant mockery or to TAKE ARMS and by opposing END IT ALL! HAH!" He couldn't help but cry out with all his strength; he was starting to find it very therapeutic. His pent up self-loathing and rage was releasing itself through his speech – and beyond that he was performing! No one was there to see him, he didn't want anybody to see him, but he was performing anyway and it was giving him a real sense of satisfaction.

"To DIE: to SLEEP; NO MORE! To die right now! Would that be better than the life of slings and arrows I live? HAH! You'd LOVE IT if I gave up, wouldn't you? One day I'LL be on top!" By this point he had thrown his monologue book down on to the ground. "The heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks that my flesh is heir to is nothing compared to what they'll have coming to them when my day comes! HAHAHA!"

His laughter, while frightening, was also honest. He felt happy for the first time in a while. Getting what he wanted to say said, screaming it out, and even pretending for a moment that a crowd was cheering for him, clamoring for more...

It was Ingo's deepest, darkest secret. The man held many hidden ambitions (what else did one do but scheme whilst cleaning out the cucco coop?), but none of them were as close to his heart as his dream of leading an acting troupe across the land. Money, fame, being his own boss and the boss of many others to boot; the fantasy had tortured him on many a sleepless night. He had managed to squelch this particular desire all but completely, but then that damn kid had to go and play that song... That song that sounded so much like the one he had heard as a child...

Ingo didn't have many pleasant memories, but among the handful that he could still recall was his trip to Hyrule's annual harvest festival. He was but a lad, naive and foolish – unaware of the world's many cruelties. He had been led around and shown the colorful stalls and games, he had been given treats until his stomach had started to ache, and he had been an enthusiastic viewer to both a puppet show and a full on stage play. The play had been so long and so beautiful. Flowing fabrics and cheerful music made for a stimulating backdrop – the music especially. The airy sound of a flute took a prominent role and had fit everything so well.

Ingo still couldn't recall precisely what the plot had been about or what the characters had acted like, but he remembered the curtain call like it had happened yesterday. The deep bows the actors had repeated over and over again, the rupees that were thrown on to the stage, the adoring audience: to this day Ingo coveted these things. It was all he had talked about for weeks afterward. He had even tried his hand at writing his own amateur stories to act out. It had become so important to him that he had been gifted with the book of play excerpts that he still jealously treasured.

It wasn't until much later that he discovered how much people could jeer and boo. His first public performance had also been his last, and he had sworn through his angry tears to never give anyone the chance to laugh at him so freely again.

So, like all the others, this dream was impossible to attain. If he was so foolish as to try again, or to even be seen practicing, he could be ridiculed, scoffed at; he could become a walking joke. The very thought made Ingo's vision red around the edges.

And yet here he was.

He found his book and picked it up again. It was held close to his chest. "To die, to sleep; To sleep: perchance to dream..." The words were still gruff, but grew softer as his mood cooled. "Ay... there's the rub..." He trailed off into silence, suddenly feeling very tired. It was probably time to head back anyway. They'd be awake before too long.

But it seemed like something wanted him to stay and finish. Something strong.

And wet.

Just as Ingo turned his back on the lake, slithering movement in the corner of his eye caught his attention. It was far too late to do anything about it by then, however, as the speed of whatever had just wrapped itself around his ankle was unbelievable. Startled by this sudden development, Ingo pitched forward into the damp ground where he made a few attempts at freeing himself with jerky leg movements, but whatever had him was unyielding.

The grip was solid, painfully so; but the offending arm, if it could be called that, seemed to shift and flow with the fluidity of liquid. It was cold as well, and felt like a bath of ice on his leg. Before he knew what was happening, his other leg was snatched and wrapped up tightly as well.

It took Ingo a moment to realize he was in very real danger, but his cry for help was weak and overpowered by the sound of rushing water coming from the lake. Morbid curiosity compelled a wide-eyed glance behind him and he was horrified by what he saw. Another tentacle was rising out of the water, identical to the ones that had his legs secured. They were giant, shimmering, almost invisible in the dark, and most assuredly malicious. It was almost as if the lake itself was attacking the horrified man.

Another scream came, and this one was not quite so weak. It was followed by many others.

The third tentacle wavered in the air for a moment, seemingly wary of the trapped creature's sudden wailing. It soon got over any potential doubts however, and wrapped itself firmly around it's prey's waist despite the thrashing. In this state, Ingo was easy pickings. His efforts at anchoring himself to the ground by grabbing on to the sparse grass around him did little to stop his steady progress towards the edge of the water. Desperate clawing at the muddy bank was also in vain. More screams only served to hasten his progress backwards; it seemed that the monster was set on drowning him if only to shut him up.

Soon he could feel his shoes fill with water. This was followed by the terrifying sensation of his overall trousers getting plastered to his legs. What had caused this? Why him? Had his acting really been bad enough to merit killing him? He was half-way in and no longer thinking clearly.

As panic took hold, the man started beating futilely against the tree trunks that held him. While he did so, he shouted out pleas to the creature, doubting it could understand, but not knowing what else to do. "P-Please don't hurt me! Anything you want, I'll give you anything you want! J-Just d-don't-"

A sudden sharp pull that completely submerged Ingo underwater served as an answer to his bargaining.

He hadn't even been aware enough to take a good breath beforehand and after only a few seconds he released what little air he had. The sight of the bubbles flying from his mouth forced all thoughts that did not concern survival out of Ingo's mind. Even as he was dragged deeper he made swimming motions towards the surface with a desperation as strong as it was hopeless. The effort made his arms hurt and his lungs burn with a need that could not be met. Slowly building water pressure made his ears pop. He felt like he was crying but it was impossible to tell.

A twist of his legs forced him to look in the direction of where he was being dragged. At first it was hard to tell exactly where the tentacles were originating from because of the dark and the slight murkiness of everything. Nonetheless, Ingo was eventually able to discern the cause of his plight, although soon after he wished he hadn't dared. Rolling around on the cloudy lake bottom was what looked like a large fleshy sphere. Perhaps it was more like an eyeball, though, because as he grew nearer it swirled through the water and began floating unnervingly close to his face.

It was about as big as its victim's head. It pulsed with a sickening _thump-thump _and dark shapes shifted visibly behind the thick membrane that kept it together. Unable to scream with empty lungs, Ingo merely dropped his head so as to escape the traumatizing sight. What he saw instead wasn't much of an improvement, however. Half-buried in the sand were the bones of what had to be previous unfortunates. Some had been cleaned of all their meat but most had scraps of rotting flesh still clinging on in the gentle current.

Ingo closed his eyes tight as he felt himself being shaken like an infant's rattle. He was going to die. It was a fact now. He might as well cease his struggling. But he could not, his body would not let him stop. He didn't want to die. It didn't matter how worthless his life was, despite it all he didn't want it to end. There had always been small things to look forward to – the satisfaction of a job well done, the satisfaction of getting the job done again after somebody messed it up; rainy days, clean socks, his many plans...!

Goddesses, he didn't want to die!

Then water rushed into him. He had opened his mouth and breathed it in. How had it happened? Had he given in? Did it matter now? His throat felt like it had collapsed in on itself. His lungs felt like they were trying to break free from his chest. His heart was pounding in his head, and it was far too fast...

He thought he heard a distant splash.

For some reason, however, he didn't really care all much about it all that much. Nothing seemed very important anymore.

All he wanted to do was close his eyes and go to sleep.

Considering what he was going through right now, it was the preferable option by far.

Then more strange sounds.

Swishing...

Swishing like a broom. Ingo smiled a bit, thinking that he'd never have to sweep anything again.

Then a rumbling, a shrieking.

He couldn't register the grip on his legs loosening, however, he was too far gone.

One more noise.

Murmuring.

It could have been his own thoughts.

Or maybe something trying to tell him what to do now that he was dead.

He tried to listen closer...

but the sound only grew...

fainter...

The last thing he saw before blacking out was a bubble floating up towards the surface.

It looked enormous.

* * *

The first thing he saw when he woke up was a pair of large red lips moving away from his. He didn't spend much time dwelling on that, however, as he was preoccupied by all the violent coughing that had to be done. A startling amount of water needed to be hacked out and he did so eagerly, despite the fact that it really hurt to do so. Lots of things hurt, actually.

The poor man felt like he had been hammered on all over his body; his throat was raw, his legs were tingling, and his waist felt tender where it had been gripped. Needless to say, Ingo was quite grumpy about all of this.

Once he was done spewing up half the lake, the soggy rancher raised his eyes to appraise the person who had apparently brought him back into this world of pain.

She was standing tall over him, arms crossed and expression neutral. The immediate impression she gave off was quite strong; intimidating even. She was wet all over but unlike Ingo, who looked and felt like a drowned rat, she seemed to make the 'fully dressed and soaked' look work for her in an almost heroic sort of way. The sheen of liquid over her skintight blue and gray clothing made it shine and accentuated the distinctive crest over her collarbone – a single tear falling from a watchful eye. Short gray hair was tied in a practical style. She was obviously a woman, but her large, muscled arms and legs made it obvious that she was no delicate female flower.

Ingo didn't know what to think or what to say, so he focused instead on getting back on his feet. His first attempt failed miserably, however, and he had to bite his tongue to stop from crying out in pain at the sharp stabbing sensation that suddenly shot through his chest. His discomfort did not go unnoticed.

"You need to take things slowly," The woman said, her firm, yet mysteriously soothing voice a small help in calming Ingo's understandably frayed nerves. "I'm afraid that I may have cracked a few of your ribs during the resuscitation."

"C-cracked my ribs?" Ingo's voice sounded like he was a full twenty years older, and he coughed a few more times in an effort to regain some semblance of his normally haughty tone.

"You should be fine," she assured, a objectivity in her words. "As long as you don't overly strain yourself you will heal quickly." It sounded reassuring, if not all that compassionate.

Ingo reassessed his situation. He was still near the lake, within limping distance to his horse, in fact. He was still alive and the sky was only just now beginning to show the creeping light of dawn so it couldn't have been very long since he had passed out, since that _thing_ had gotten a hold of him. That thing...!

As he shuddered and stood up, defiant of the pain it caused, Ingo demanded answers from the stranger before him.

"W-Why? What? H-How? When did – ah, ARGH!"

She seemed unmoved by his stuttering gibberish and merely waited for himself to collect his thoughts. When he did, he went ahead and let loose a bit on the infuriatingly calm woman before him.

"WHAT WAS THAT THING?"

She answered his question slowly and with appropriate gravity. "The 'thing' that had you is a great evil. It is a monstrous beast." She looked over at the once again still waters of the lake, assuring herself that it was indeed no longer a current threat. " It is called Morpha. It has retreated for now, but you must leave this place. Immediately."

He didn't need to be told twice. All the same, he felt that he was owed more explanation than that after what had happened to him.

His demands wound up sounding a bit more like polite questions in the long trip from his mind to his mouth, but it was just as well. "Why did this happen...? Who- Who are you?"

"My name is Impa. As for your other question, I wish I could say." Her face softened a bit as she turned her eyes regretfully back to the dark waters of Lake Hylia. "I myself have just discovered the disturbing presence of this monster. There have been a few disappearances in the area, but I would never have dreamed that this would be the cause..." Her focus snapped back to Ingo and her voice regained its no-nonsense manner. "There is no more time for inquiry. Morpha could return at any moment."

"It's still out there?" The exclamation sounded much squeakier than Ingo had meant it to.

"Of course. I have not the power to defeat such a thing alone. It was nothing short of intervention from the goddesses that allowed me to wound it enough to retrieve you from the depths."

Ingo became silent at that. He really had been on death's door, and by all accounts it was a miracle he was alive. He began stumbling towards his horse (who looked just about as eager to leave as he was) and hurriedly untied it. Then he scrambled atop his steed and started into a full gallop right away. He had to leave. Tempting fate did not seem like a good idea. All the same he turned and gave one more look to the woman behind him who continued to stand stock still, a bastion of solidity among treacherous waters. He watched her until she was out of sight completely and he was back in Hyrule Field.

Perhaps he should have thanked her for saving him.

In between relieved laughter and choked sobs, Ingo told his horse to go faster.

* * *

Impa frowned as she flitted from shadow to fading shadow. She was running hard. Like all the Shiekah of old, she was not comfortable with the notion of being caught out in the open when the sun rose, but there were larger problems at stake than this simple phobia. This monster should no longer exist. Why was it here? And how was it not contained within the temple?

Many things needed to be done now. The Princess would need to be informed at once, of course. Guards would have to be posted so as to keep the public away from the danger, but this was a temporary solution at best. The matter would not be finished until the beast was slain. It would be no small task.

A repeat of her foolish underwater rush would end in her death, Impa knew. If Morpha hadn't been so distracted by its newest plaything, it would have felt her coming from the start. But now that she had struck a blow, it would be more wary; there was no chance of such a tactic succeeding again.

As Impa ran, she thought of the Hero. He had defeated the creature in another time, and was perhaps one of few who knew of any weaknesses. It was unfortunate that his whereabouts were still unknown. Others would devise a solution, however. New tactics would be found. Impa already had a few ideas herself, but was not nearly foolhardy enough to consider acting on her own presumptuous stratagems.

The monster would fall, this was inevitable. The implications of its appearance, however, darkened Impa's thoughts.

Impa ran towards the castle. She ran hard.

_What's this? Subplot? Ooh. That's different._

_I'm a big fan of Ingo. Even though I just needed to use somebody to introduce everybody's favorite tentacle monster, I kind of got carried away. This sort of came about from me starting to think about Ingo's counterpart in Majora's Mask and how he got to where he is. Then I started combining the two men in my head... in any case, I think this is well within the realm of possibility. _

_I regret nothing. _

_Oh, and I should mention that although I'm not a big fan of crossovers, Shakespeare was the only thing that I thought would be immediately identifiable as 'actor-y'. This particular soliloquy was apt to Ingo as well, I thought. _

_Anyhow, I'll see if I can get the spotlight back onto our quote-unquote "Hero" next chapter. And no, I don't think it was necessary to say quote-unquote when I can type quotes, but I type like I talk, and that's what I would have said._

_Gimmie a review if you're feeling like making my day better. And thanks for reading. _


	6. A Challenger Appears

_Hey, been a while since my last update. Sorry. Exams, projects, and mobs of adoring supermodels have all been distracting me lately. In any case, here's a little update, and major thanks go out to the reviewers who reminded me that this thing was languishing out here._

It was known throughout the land that the Princess loved to read. The King would boast to all the nobles that his daughter was perhaps the most advanced reader for her age in the history of Hyrule, and dared them to refute the claim. Even if one had been compelled to attempt such insolence, it would be a difficult feat. It was common knowledge to those who regularly wore lots of silk that the young Zelda had recently read all the Royal Library's Tomes on the History of the World, even the dry bits describing what the Goddesses did after creating everything. Not only that, but she understood it all perfectly, as evidenced by her creating a delightful abridged version with lots of colorful pictures that her tutor had to admit told the story accurately.

And because she was such an accomplished reader, it was never a surprise for the morning patrol to find her bedroom door ajar at the crack of dawn with the princess in bed, midway through a book she had just left to fetch. If the guards had been familiar with the latest serials, or even cared enough to read the title, they might have wondered at what the young girl was doing with a copy of the latest _Zoras in Love_ novel, but the men who made up the bulk of the Hylian armed forces weren't exactly known for their interest in literature.

What they were known for was discipline, respect, and a love of getting an extra break. Therefore, it was without hesitation that they saluted Impa and quickly left her alone with the Princess when the Sheikah thanked and dismissed them.

When Zelda turned her gaze to Impa, her eyes were a far cry from the soft blue orbs that had been indulging in the carefree perusal of the worthless work of fiction before her. They were clearer, sharper, a bit harder, and much more intelligent.

"What have you to report?" The voice was different as well. It was still a child's voice, but it now held a deeper quality of confidence, competence, and authority. In contrast to that, however, it also carried with it the comforting sense of grace and empathy that Princess Zelda had always exuded. It was the voice of a leader, the voice of the one who knew what it felt like to hold the Triforce of Wisdom.

"Princess..." The Sheikah respectfully fell to one knee, something that would have been expected of her in front of the King, but if anybody saw her doing this in front of her supposed student and ward it would be seen as odd. Not unreasonable, but certainly odd. Zelda herself was not fond of the practice and took the time to make this known to her nursemaid and dear friend once again, but Impa would have none of it.

"It would be one thing if you truly were just the King's daughter, but you and I both know that you are at least the equal to His Majesty after everything that has happened."

The young girl scoffed at this, dismissing the notion. "It will still be some time until I am the ruler my Father is."

A knowing smile was visible on the Sheikah's face when she rose to her full, impressive height again. "You may say so, but you are quick to take action when you believe that the 'King's Advisers' are needed."

Keeping her tone perfectly neutral, Zelda replied,"I merely have some reliable information as to the general direction our Kingdom will be heading in the next few years. It would be folly not to make use of the knowledge for the improvement of our citizens' quality of life. I'm merely making such knowledge available to the King." Finally smiling and dropping her formal tone, she added, "Also, Daddy wouldn't know optimal taxation rates if he sat in them, but that's quite beside the point."

Chuckling at the Princess's words almost made Impa forget the importance of what she had come to say, but the levity was short lived. The memory of Morpha's terrifying form dragging an innocent citizen of Hyrule into the depths caused the Sheikah's face to harden immediately.

"Princess, I am afraid that I have dire news." Once it was clear that Zelda was listening intently, she continued. "A beast has emerged that bodes ill for the peace we have only briefly enjoyed."

"I know you wouldn't indulge in melodramatics if it wasn't serious," Zelda stated, the slight tinge of dark humor in her voice not quite fitting the innocent face that produced it. "I have braced myself, Impa. Please, tell me everything."

The explanation was detailed, but succinct. The rescue of the victim was noted, but there was no trace of pride in the telling of the tale. Simple statements of facts, nothing more or less. A professional's report.

When it was done, the Princess took a moment to collect her thoughts before replying. "We should see to it that the Lake is isolated, then."

"My exact thoughts, Princess. But you know how tempting it is to find out what's behind the guarded door. It will only be a matter of time before it kills again. Unless it is destroyed."

At the introduction of violence into the conversation, the young girl sighed. Even negotiations on trade agreements with the Gerudo were more pleasant a prospect than talk of military action. "Of course. I have no doubt from your description that it is indeed Morpha, and in such a case there can be no diplomatic solution." Laughing mirthlessly at this, Zelda turned to look at herself in her ornate mirror. This job was going to kill her. She was going to be the only child to ever have worry lines on her forehead and frown wrinkles down her face. "We must make contact with the Zoras as soon as possible, they stand to lose the most in this mess. You know how to handle that. Have you told Father about this situation yet?"

"Not yet, Princess, I came to you first. I will, however, take my leave now so as to inform him. He will do all that is necessary to contain the beast, but I am afraid that he will require assistance on the ultimate solution from his 'Advisers.' A simple assault with the militia would end in disaster."

Nodding in agreement, the Princess didn't even seem to notice the Sheikah before her bowing before her once more. "Yes. Go to Father then. Thank you, Impa."

When Impa vanished in her cloud of smoke, as she was wont to do, Zelda's eyes lost much of their strength and her expression lost much of its confidence. Alone, she felt very scared; scared like the child she was.

She allowed her mind to stay blissfully blank for a few moments before even attempting to wrap her head around the issue. She took that time to gather the books she had taken from the library into a neat pile for one of the maids to return. The sun was beginning to rise. She'd have to get ready for her dresser soon.

"Morpha..." It didn't make any sense! "Why...?" Where had it come from? What could be done? And what did it mean?

"Why me...?"

And just like that, the wave of fear and self-pity was gone. Scolding herself for allowing it, but knowing deep down that giving in just a little bit once in a while was what kept her head from blowing up, Zelda turned her thoughts to practical solutions for the problem at hand.

And she thought of the one easy cure-all that had taken care of all her problems in the past.

But if being involved in ruling Hyrule taught one anything it was that you can't put all your eggs in one hero's basket. To succeed, one must branch out and diversify. And he hadn't been heard from in months.

So she didn't think about the Hero of Time. She thought about how it was he had killed so many beasts. Then thought about the Master Sword he had wielded, which was never going to be an option. And the unique tools he still carried. And that cute hat. And the way he had looked sweating in the heat of Death Mountain, following her lead as she taught him the Bolero of Fire under the guise of Sheik.

Gah. Sheik the Sheikah. Probably the least convincing name possible, but that's the only thing she had been able to come up with at the time. He had probably had a good laugh about that one. She thought about him laughing. She had seen him laughing at one point, hadn't she? She couldn't remember anything specific though...

Sheik the Sheikah.

Asinine!

Wait, what was she doing? There was no time to worry about such trivial things when the very safety of her people was at stake! Shaking her head to clear it, the young princess focused back on the problem at hand, and didn't think anymore about the Hero who might not ever come back.

Didn't think about his cute hat anymore, either.

* * *

The hat in question was, for once, actually not on the Hero's head. It was carefully placed in a corner of Malon's dark and quiet bedroom, along with everything else that didn't make for optimal sleep-wear.

The room wouldn't stay dark and quiet for very much longer, however.

As usual, Malon rose with sun. Like the sun, she started off each day feeling somewhat faint and gray, but would within a matter of minutes be gaining power until around Noon. That's when her gleaming smile would be blinding if you looked right at it. Today was special though, and the usual slow warming up routine was dropped in favor of an immediate shift to maximum energy the moment the girl's eyes fluttered open.

Link was here, and that meant no shuffling towards the dresser and leaning against the strangely comfortable wall for five minutes before finally wiggling into her work clothes. Nope, she had planned ahead. Last night, before even being tucked in, she had hidden tomorrow's clothes under her blankets to shave valuable seconds off of the bothersome business of getting ready. There were games to play, skills to teach and learn, too many important things to do to waste time walking anywhere to change out of pajamas, that was for sure. Pulling her covers over her head was all she had to do to make a perfectly serviceable changing room. In a matter of seconds she emerged from her cocoon of blankets transformed into a warrior ready to attack the day ahead with vigor.

All that was left was awakening the boy who was hopelessly tangled up in the sheets on her floor. His sprawled position and the current condition of his bedding looked like violent thrashing must have gone on during the night, but he looked very comfortable despite that. He was still in his green tunic, he had brought no other clothes with him and there was nothing on the ranch that could fit him that was appropriate for boys, but without the belt, it was basically a sort of nightgown anyway. His breathing was soft, just barely audible and steady enough to set a clock by. Tangled hair bent at all the wrong angles combined with a smooth, worry-free face gave him the appearance of an angelic infant Sasquatch.

He looked so peaceful... It gave Malon pause. Perhaps it wouldn't be right to wake him. Perhaps it would be best to let him rest and to go about the morning chores by herself as usual. Yes, that was probably the right thing to do.

Then again, that wouldn't be any fun. Laughing and wooping, Malon yanked one end of the sheet Link was wrapped in as hard as she could, but it had no discernible effect other than causing her seemingly oblivious target to mutter softly. Another couple of tugs succeeded in actually rolling the boy onto his face, but he seemed not to mind that in the least. Frustrated that her supposed helper was acting exactly like a log, Malon elected to take more extreme measures.

Without warning, she took the pillow right out from under him. While the clonking sound of Link's forehead meeting the wooden floor was enough to make Malon wince in momentary regret, there was no noticeable change in Link, so she continued on to phase two: merciless bludgeoning.

"Come on! Wake up! You said you'd help me this morning!" Each syllable was accompanied by a soft _THWUMP_ as she brutally attacked him, fueled by the righteous fury of a girl given a promise.

This continued on for a little while, with no obvious effect. No effect that is, until Link's steady breathing started wavering, speeding up, and finally shattering into the laughter that had been held back for so long. This did not put an end to Malon's assault, however – on the contrary; she started hitting him harder and faster until he reluctantly rose to his feet, giggling all the while.

"How long have you been awake?" Malon asked grumpily before throwing the pillow forcefully at a retreating yellow bedhead, a little upset that she had been fooled so completely.

"I woke up when I heard you rolling around under your covers," he admitted, finally calming down.

"So you've been pretending the entire time?" Annoyance quickly gave way to admiration. "How did you do that? You really seemed like you were asleep!"

A puzzled expression briefly replaced the amused one Link had been wearing as he pondered that. "I've been doing that for just about forever. Don't you pretend to be asleep when somebody tries to wake you up? I mean, when you're really tired?"

"I'm always the one waking Dad up," Malon lamented, then added, "It wasn't always that way, though. Mom used to wake me up but I don't remember ever pretending to be asleep with her." Even at her own casual mention of her Mother, countless memories, some completely unrelated started trickling back. They made Malon feel both happy and sad. She didn't dwell on any of them. "It wouldn't have worked on her anyway."

"Yeah, I didn't usually fool Navi," Link said, his own memories bringing a small smile to his face."Not at first, anyway. She didn't like letting me sleep very much. She always said, um... something like, 'You've been asleep for seven years, you don't need to sleep anymore now...'"

"Asleep for seven years? What's that supposed to mean?" Somehow asking that prompted the realization that she had forgotten to put her shoes in her bed with her last night. Malon to started looking for them, leaving Link to sweat over his slip of the tongue.

"Oh, ah..." Link fumbled to recover from his error, but luckily the rancher's daughter wound up picking up the slack for him.

"Oh, I get it! You must have been seven years old. So you've always been kind of a sleepyhead, huh?" She put a shoe on her left foot, stopped, took it back off, and started rifling through her dresser for some socks.

Well, it wasn't lying to agree to the last part. "Yeah, I guess..." Eager to get his friend's mind off of what he had just said, Link quickly started talking again. "I had to pretend to be asleep to get any sleep! She would always wake me up, by mistake I think, flying around and watching guard. But if I ever opened my eyes she would say, 'Okay, you're awake! Let's Go!' and it didn't matter how short a time I had been lying down. It seemed like she didn't get how important sleep was! Do you know what I think...?" Leaning conspiratorially forward, he motioned for Malon to move closer so he could whisper it to her.

Excited, the girl immediately complied, all the while holding one of yesterday's socks in each of her hands. "What? What?"

"I'm not sure she even ever needed to sleep - I think fairies never sleep!"

"Wow! Really?" To the Hero of Time, it seemed like Malon's eyes were growing to be as large as all those strange targets that had been scattered throughout the old Forest Temple. Resisting an urge to find his bow, Link just nodded. He really did have his suspicions. Navi had never even seemed sleepy, although she could have been sneaking naps under his hat, he supposed. Tatl had mentioned not being able to sleep at all during the three days it took to do everything in Clocktown, but it had been unclear whether she was talking about just Link or both of them. And the fairies in the fountains that he sometimes visited were always up and about, day or night.

"When we find your friend, we'll have to ask her!"

Having been absorbed in his own thoughts, all Link could manage was a, "Wha-?"

"Navi. When you and me find her, you'll have to ask her if Fairies sleep." Finally finished with her shoes, Malon strode towards Link, his belt and hat in one hand, boots in the other. "That's the best way to find out!"

Link had to agree with that. Nodding, he took what was offered to him and prepared to begin his first day as a rancher.

_A New Challenger Has Appeared! _

_What do we think? Did I miss a cut scene midway through Majora's Mask that shows every fairy ever fast asleep?How's Zelda's character read? I had a lot of fun writing that part, but fun doesn't always equal in-character. Anyway, review it, critique it, etc. Thanks for reading._


	7. First Aid

_Wasn't that cute of me to say I would update regularly? I take that back. I will be sporadic and undependable. Other than that, I don't really have a preface for this one, so let's skip the jibber-jabber and get right to the chapter._

_

* * *

_

"Whaaa!"

"Link? L-link!" It was all Malon could do to get a complete sentence out of her mouth without falling into hysterics. "Link, what are you doing? Stop running away!"

It all fell on deaf ears, however. It didn't matter if he looked silly or not, Link had learned the hard way that caution is always the way to go when dealing with cuccos. And when one started chasing you, there was a definite possibility that a mob of its friends wasn't far behind.

Somehow he had provoked it. How it had happened, he had no idea. Actually, it seemed that cuccos always seemed to take offense to his presence, and Link had irrational suspicions that there was a far-reaching cucco rumor mill that was unfairly making him out as some sort of villain. You accidentally attack one and suddenly the entire species is against you, it seemed. And how was he supposed to know such a noisy thing wasn't a monster? He still wasn't entirely sure that they weren't monsters that were just pretending to be tamed, biding their time...

As fun as it was watching Link and the cucco play chase, Malon wanted to wrap things up here so that the rest of the morning chores could be done. The sooner they were finished, the sooner the real fun could begin. The cucco didn't seem to pay her any mind as she ran up to it from the side, and although it struggled mightily when it was picked up, Malon was able to hold it fast.

"You can stop now, I got her." Even after hearing Malon say this, Link continued to run for a short distance, just to be safe, before turning around. What he saw made him glad that he had put some extra distance between himself and the captured animal. Its thrashing was so violent that it was tearing out its own feathers.

Evidently not seeing the same animal that he was seeing, Malon cooed, "Aww... she just likes you."

Trying his best to slow his breathing and regain some sense of composure, Link replied by hopping a nearby fence. With the comforting wooden boundary between himself and the beady eyes that were still focused squarely on his throat, he was able to finally take the time to request moving on to the next task.

"We've fed them and you got their eggs, right? So what do we do next?"

"Hmm..." Mentally running down the usual checklist, Malon ticked off what they had already accomplished. The first priority for both children had been a good meal, so together they raided the kitchen and managed to whip up hot oatmeal, some toast, and (after a failed attempt at making a milkshake) tall glasses of cold juice for themselves. Of course, once it was clear that they couldn't eat everything they had made, plates had been served up for the adults as well. Once the breakfasts in bed had been arranged perfectly on wooden platters – a delicate and artistic process - they were served to a delighted Talon and an eerily quiet Ingo. His room had seemed to be empty at first, but Malon had quickly concluded that because there was no yelling coming from the direction of the fields yet, Ingo must still be in his bed, just invisible. Link had, indeed, supported her theory and had even offered to grab his special-magnifying-glass-that-helped-you-see-invisible-things, but Malon had ruled that being invisible probably made a person pretty tired, so they just left his food on his counter so that he could grab it when he woke up. After that they had washed the laundry, something Malon was exceedingly thankful to have help with. The weather was nice, too, so all the laundry had to be hung up to dry. The cuccos had come next. So what did that leave...?

"Malon!" The boisterous voice of her father coming from the direction of the barn broke her train of thought. "Malon! Where are ya, girl?"

"Dad?" He sounded disconcertingly worried, so Malon dropped the cucco she had been holding and ran off towards the sound of her father's voice, leaving a once-again-hunted Link to try and find a way to follow while still keeping a wall between him and the cucco coop at all times.

"Malon! ...Malon! C'mere!" It was strange for Malon, hearing him like this. Her father was an extremely easygoing man as far as ranchers went, and usually only ever raised his voice in proportion to his good spirits. Now his words held a quality that smacked of a slowly building worry and desperation. She didn't really know what to make of it, but it made her stomach flip-flop to hear it.

When Malon peeked into the barn where she was now sure her father was calling her from, she was momentarily confused by what she saw. There was her father, stained wet rag in hand, clumsily tending to some poor creature collapsed in the haystack in front of him. But was it one of their animals? It was hard to tell because it was sunken so far down in the hay and Dad was in the way...

Talon raised his head and turned quickly around, brow furrowed and mouth wide as if to bellow his summons again, but stopped and gave a weak smile at the sight of his daughter "Oh, there ya are, darlin'." There was relief in his voice and his eyes seemed to take a quick inventory of her, running up and down to check for something wrong. "...Good, good..." He then immediately turned his attention back to the poor whatever-it-was. Malon could hear it slowly rustling around and groaning... Groaning?

"D-Dad..." Malon's voice was quivering. "Dad, what is... what happened?"

"Oh don't worry none, Malon," Talon insisted, his pale face hidden from his daughter, "It looks like Ingo here had a little accident somewheres, but I think he'll be jus' fine after getting' the chance to rest. Ah, which reminds me-" He turned back to face Malon, unable to hide his somewhat grim expression before he turned it on its head into a smile. "Would ya mind running to the house and grabbin' some of my clean towels and some nice cold water? Or naw, wait... hot water, we should use hot water, shouldn't we..."

Malon only partially heard these instructions, because in the process of giving them, Talon had exposed Ingo completely. Now Malon's eyes were glued to the wriggling farmhand that had his face contorted in what was obviously pain. She had never seen anyone like this. Small injuries were certainly commonplace – a twisted ankle after tripping over a tool, an overstretched back after a long day of repetitive work – but Ingo looked like he hurt all over. Huge blue and black marks were everywhere and there was matted dirt and... blood... in his hair, on his clothes, and all over his face. His breathing was quick and shallow and his low moaning rose sharply whenever he moved his legs even an inch.

Malon turned away. She couldn't stand to look.

"Dad... is he going to..." Malon had started to tear up without even noticing. "He's g-going to be okay, right? He's going to-to... W-what did..." A horrible thought occurred. She had seen this a few times already in this very barn. Her old favorite horse, Blueberry, those three poor sheep that had been sick, but had never gotten better – Malon had seen her father acting the same way with them as he was acting now..."

Is Ingo going away?"

"No, no, no, Sweetheart! Ingo's gonna be just fine!" Talon assured her, actually leaving Ingo alone for a moment so that he could wrap his daughter in a tight, comforting hug. "No, he isn't going anywhere. He's hurtin' a little right now, but he'll be okay. He ain't saying much anymore, but I managed to get outta him that he fell off his horse outside of the ranch and took a bit of a tumble, but that won't be the end of him. He managed to move himself in here afterwards so he could lay down a bit in the hay, too, so he's in no danger of going away." He released Malon and returned to Ingo's side, once again picking up the filthy rag he was using to wipe caked blood away. "Now I need ya to go grab those towels and that hot water from the house, okay darlin'? Once we have him a little more comfy, I'm gonna head out and see if I can get a holda the doctor."

Malon nodded quietly before taking off for the house, wondering briefly why Link wasn't where she had left him anymore. It didn't really matter - she'd find him later, or maybe he was waiting in the house for her right now. In any case, she had to do whatever she could for Ingo immediately. Even if he was a little loud and didn't really like to play with her he was still a lot of fun in his own way, whether he wanted to be or not. And he was always there. He ate her food and helped her with her chores and...and...

And Ingo was her friend. Malon prayed that he was going to be okay.

* * *

"Hold still, dern it... I know I ain't the best at this, but if I don't get this stuff cleaned up, yer eyes'll be glued shut..." Talon fussed, more to himself than Ingo, because the farmhand wasn't being very talkative.

Taking a moment to lean back and survey the damage again, Talon let out a sigh."Boy... what happened to you? I can understand all these cuts and such if you took a spill, but unless your horse bucked you off a dern cliff, you shouldn't be banged up this bad..."

When the only answers he got were more moans, he resumed his good-intentioned, but still heavy-handed help until the sound of soft footsteps behind him drew his attention.

"Oh... howdy there..." Talon didn't really know what to do in this situation. There, standing in the doorway, staring calmly right at the beat up man before him was Link. Now, Talon had no idea how to approach talking to children who weren't his about serious topics of any kind. Furthermore, this boy was unlike any child he had ever met, and the very fact that he was still looking at Ingo without flinching seemed strange. Bordering on disturbing even, if Talon was being honest with himself. But, then again, this whole incident had gotten him in to the proper mindset to be easily disturbed.

"He's hurt bad, isn't he?" It wasn't really a question so much as it was a statement of fact. This threw Talon for a loop – it was like night and day, the difference between Link's response and his daughter's.

"Yeah... well, I think he should be all right if'n we get the doctor down here soon..."

"He looks... who did this?" Link drew a little closer and knelt down beside the slightly bewildered rancher. Up close, Talon could see that, while he wasn't averting his gaze, the boy's eyes were very soft as they looked over the numerous contusions and cuts on Ingo's body.

"Now I don't think that, ah, anybody did this to 'em. I jus' found him lying here when I came to check on the animals and he told me that he hurt himself fallin' off his horse. His legs, he said, and his chest hurts real bad. But it looks like everything else got a good tenderizin' too, y'know..."

It was at that moment that the wounded man in the hay let out a particularly loud and sudden cry, eliciting a small gasp from the boy in green. Strange that after that Link didn't make a hasty retreat like most children would, but Talon still breathed a sigh of relief. It seemed the boy wasn't quite desensitized enough to be impervious to such a sight, but his level of comfort around a man in such pain was... he just couldn't shake himself out of the shock of such a discovery.

"I think I have something that can help him," Link volunteered a moment later, suddenly jumping up.

"Oh, well, ah, I do appreciate that, but er, I already have Malon fetchin' towels to turn inta' bandages n' such..."

"Oh, that's not what I meant..." Link was already walking away, brushing hay from his tunic as he went, "Here, hold on a second, I left in inside with my other stuff..."

"Hold on now, boy, I..." Talon tried to stop him, but he was already gone. Why he had tried to stop him he couldn't quite put his finger on, but he still felt like the boy should still be in the barn, having the situation explained to him. What sort of child took something like this so well?

Again, the impromptu nurse remembered that in trying to puzzle his thoughts out, he was ignoring Ingo. It seemed a little strange to do so, he knew, but nevertheless; as he rinsed and rung out his rag with comparatively clean water, Talon petted and stroked the top of Ingo's head. Really, what else could he do to comfort the man while he waited for Malon? It wasn't until the patient opened his still slightly blood-crusted eyes and growled to stop treating him like a dying animal that he relented with a sheepish apology tacked on for good measure.

When Malon finally did arrive with every clean towel Lon Lon Ranch had to offer (which was about ten) piled up in her arms, Talon couldn't help but chuckle at his little girl's sweet nature. The small moment of levity soon passed when the sleeve of his arm was viciously clutched by Ingo, something that 'scared the living spit outta him,' as he would relate many, many times when telling the story in the future.

"I... I don't NEED all this," Ingo spat, his words filled with a pain-and-embarrassment-fueled anger. "Just... get the... ughn... doctor! I'll pay for... my stupid mistake... gngh... myself! So... just stop wasting time... and... and go!"

Ingo was truly furious with himself. First he runs off in the middle of the night to do what he had promised himself never to do again, and then, right after arriving back on the ranch, he manages to fall off his horse, rip apart his face, and snap his legs. In his pride, he had neglected to call for help. He had told himself that he couldn't have really hurt himself that badly, that it would fade, that it just seemed terrible because of everything that had just happened - but, oh, the pain was so very fresh and throbbing still! No matter how much he wanted it to, the pain wasn't going away. And now they would wonder why he had been off the ranch, and his mind was too full of agony to formulate a passable lie... Ingo was absolutely miserable. But still, in the back of his mind, he knew that he was still alive, and that was something. Maybe that something was just more opportunities for the Goddesses to have a laugh at him, but it was still something.

"Now Ingo, I will get the doc jus' as soon as we have the parts of you that should be covered, covered. All these guts spillin' out on the ground here, fer instance, should probably have a bandage or two on 'em."

"AHHRGH!" Ingo's scream spooked the cow in the next pen over, eliciting a moo that started a chain reaction. Soon the barn was full of sound and Talon had to practically yell to have his apology heard.

"No, no I'm jus' messin' with ya. I'm sorry, that wasn't very funny. You're gonna be fine, though, Ingo. Just some nice hot water soaked inta these strips of... erg..." The towel was tougher to tear than he had thought, but using his teeth to make a nick was all it took to get a strip going and soon Talon had a good couple of yards of the makeshift gauze.

"Here's the, uh, w-water, Dad..." Malon held a steaming bucket out towards her father while looking down at her shoes. The man gently took it and set a few of the strips of towels in to soak, once-again second guessing himself as to the optimal temperature for the water, or, in fact, if water was the best thing. Maybe it should be dry, after all?

But as it turned out, he would never actually have to apply any of the bandages because it was then that Link jogged back in to the barn, a gleaming bottle held out in his hand. "I found it!" he said, "I knew I had some left, and this should be plenty!"

"Link?" Malon had somewhat forgotten about him in all the stress of the situation.

"What's that you have there, boy?" Talon asked, wrapping a piping hot bandage around his own arm and wincing at the thought that this would probably hurt like a stove burn when applied to an injury.

"It's some red potion I had left over. This stuff kind of tastes bad, but it makes you feel a whole lot better after hurting yourself!" He offered the bottle to Talon, uncorking it as he handed it over.

"Red potion? Is this really..."

That was... well, it wasn't impossible, but red potion was a rather expensive commodity, reserved for matters of life and death or the paper cuts of the upper classes.

"Are ya sure you weren't ripped off, Link? There are a lotta phonies out there who whip up strawberry juice and pretend it's the real deal, but..."

"No, this stuff works okay," Link assured, "It's a little old, but I had a couple of sips yesterday after falling and scraping my knees, and it was still good."

"Ya used it yesterday fer..." Stranger and stranger! Now Talon knew that what he was about to ask was a little rude, but it just popped in to his head and out of his mouth."If ya don't mind my asking, how can you afford this stuff, Link?"

Without missing a beat, the boy replied, "I've cut a lot of grass."

How a child could make enough money to afford this near magical medicine from cutting people's grass, Talon didn't know. But maybe some royalty payed big bucks for professional child gardeners to come in and... Before continuing on with that train of thought, Talon decided to just give the stuff a try. Worst thing that could happen to Ingo was a sudden influx of vitamin C, right?

"Well, here goes then, I guess..."

* * *

It had taken Ingo about thirty seconds to stop bleeding, stop making pained sounds, and stop being in the same room as everyone else. As soon as he felt himself stitch back together, he rose out of the hay, avoided everyone's eye contact while standing awkwardly for a moment, and then walked out of the barn with a hurried, "I have some things to do."

Talon had given chase, but not before shaking Link's hand heartily and giving an abundance of promises to pay him back for the medicine. Malon had brightened immediately at seeing Ingo rise up, miraculously all better; but when he left, she felt very sad again for a reason she couldn't explain to herself.

Link also felt a little strange. He felt a tight knot in the pit of his stomach. Something very bad had just happened. He didn't know the extent of what was going on yet, but Ingo had been hurt by someone or something who had meant to hurt him. He hadn't just fallen off a horse. Link had fallen off of a horse enough times to know just how bad that could be and how that could happen.

When Link and Malon's gazes met, however, each put on a happy face for their friend's benefit. The smiles were weak and the eyes were empty, but each child fooled the other. And so they played the rest of the day, finished the chores that had to be finished, and did not talk about the incident again except to repeat over and over, 'I'm sure glad he's better now.'

But as they lay in bed that night they each had their dreams darkened by a shadow. For Malon, that shadow sang her a lullaby and then left her alone. For Link, the shadow crept up close and would not go away.

* * *

_Well, that was pretty fun. I think I know where I'm going with this again. And not to be "one of THOSE writers," but I think we all know I am reminded to work on this story when I get some good reviews and constructive criticism. _

_Thanks for reading, hope you liked it._


	8. ChitterChatter

_Another update? Look at me go – a whole summer of nothing and now twice in a week. It seems I only ever really want to write when I have classes and such to deal with. That's right, dear readers, you're a procrastination tool. _

_Okay. Chapter 8. Lets do this._

* * *

One of the things a traveler must learn quickly is that in Hyrule field you do not stray from the path at night.

In fact, to be safe, most of the smaller kingdoms and villages that border the field enforce curfews and did not allow anyone to take the risk of traveling the vast winding roads at night. After all, it only takes a few missteps to find oneself away from the mysterious and magical protections of the road (the origins of which have been long forgotten by most), and when one is no longer protected, an unthinkable nightmare begins.

In Hyrule field, even the lightest footfall reverberates deep underground. Each snapped twig, each bent blade of grass screams out in the night to their neighbors below ground. When roots quiver from the force of wagon wheels digging into the flesh of the earth, the world explodes in a flurry of dirt, gravel, and bone.

Just as mysterious as the protections placed on the roads are the creatures that must be protected against. They are the Stalchildren, horrifying monsters that wake at sunset and attack with a blind fury when disturbed. They are bleached, shambling masses of pieced together skeletons, unnerving in their small stature that gives them their name. It is whispered that the first victims of these horrid beasts mistook them in their rags to be hungry orphan children but were only correct in the assumption of their hunger.

Many a warrior, and even a few groups of merchants, have earned the respect and awe of their colleagues by telling tales of nights caught unawares by droves of the things. They are brittle and slow and thank the goddesses for that, many have laughed; but just as many have had their last breath choked out of them by a half-dozen bony arms. For the stalchildren are never lone opponents. As soon as one claws its way out from the field, one can safely assume that another five are somewhere just beyond where you can see in the darkness.

Why they are there, and why they strive to end all the life they see is unknown; although theories abound. They could be spirits of the forest who left the protection of the trees and were driven mad by the outside world, some say. Conversely, others think that they might be foolish mortals who have done the unthinkable and wandered into the endless maze of the lost wood and now find their restless spirits shifted back under the land they once knew, but can never return to. A popular bedtime story asserts that they are children who disobeyed their parents and ran away from home.

Regardless of their origin, it seems plain that they cannot be stopped. Or not permanently, in any case. Yes, they are fragile, and even a child with a stick might be able to survive an encounter with one if they could muster up the courage; but when the body is destroyed and returns from where it came in a flash of unnatural flame, another shoots up to take its place immediately. Whether this is the exact same spirit, or whether the numbers are far too great to ever count is unknown. Thankfully, as long as one can jog away and find a tree to climb up, a house to take shelter in, or if all else fails, a body of water to swim in, the rising sun will soon put an end to the walking horrors - the gentle touch of the dawn is the one thing they fear.

All of this lore is known well by every Hylian, Zora, Goron, and Gerudo in the land. It is an unfortunate part of life, but all are used to it as one becomes used to the occasional dangerous storm or onset of disease. A storm can be bigger than any prediction, however, and some diseases can destroy civilizations. In this fashion, the Stalchildren were an underestimated and largely ignored threat for most.

That would change on this night.

The few travelers who wandered under the full moon tonight would wonder only briefly at the incredibly frigid and howling wind that struck their bodies with a force that left them weak in the knees. It was strange, but all of their attention would soon be focused squarely on the fact that every square inch of the ground, path included, was rumbling, cracking, and exposing gleaming red eyes full of hate.

* * *

Lon Lon was perhaps the quietest place Link had ever spent the night in. Back in the forest, the shuffling of creatures both benevolent and malicious acted as a constant melody, accompanied heavily by a thousand crickets' songs. In the nights he had spent around Clocktown and even in Kakariko, there was always somebody milling about, some carpenter working by lantern-light or at least an errant owl's hoot. But for some reason, a blanket of complete silence seemed to fall along with the sun here at the ranch.

So when Link woke from his hazy nightmare to the sharp sound of something shattering outside, he knew something was wrong. When a loud panicked series of whinnies soon followed, he instinctively reached around to the side of his bedroll where in most other circumstances his sword would stay at all times. But that's right, it was over there in the corner...

Malon was awake as well, blanket clutched tightly and lifted up to cover the bottom half of her face. "Link... did you hear that?"

"Yeah, I did," The reassuring clink of his sword shifting slightly in its scabbard made his heart stop beating quite so fast, despite the continuing cries of anguish coming from outside. "What do you think it is...?"

Malon shook her head, eyes darting back and forth between where she knew Link was in the dark and the silver light shining through her window. "I don't know... It could be Mister Ingo or Dad, but..."

"Would they scare the animals like that?"

"I...I don't know... maybe?"

Link slid the strap of his sword over his shoulder, tightening it until the weight and pressure was how he was used to it being. When he gave away his intentions by pushing open Malon's creaky bedroom door, the young girl protested with startling intensity.

"No, Link! What if it's a really mean animal, like a wolf? Or a lion?"

That caused Link to pause for a moment, looking back over his shoulder at Malon. Slowly, and to Malon's great relief he turned and walked back towards his bedroll – but kept on walking until he reached his pile of equipment. Grabbing his boots and plopping down on the floor, the boy hurriedly began the process of getting fully dressed.

"What are you doing?" Malon asked, even though she had a pretty good idea.

"I'm too awake to just go back to sleep right now, anyway." Link replied, grunting as he wiggled his foot into its place within well-worn leather. "I'm going to go outside and see what's happening."

"But...but..." Malon was out from under her blankets now and looking out her window, trying in vain to see anything but darkness and the outline of the Lon Lon fence, which her window faced. When she looked back again to see Link putting his shield firmly in place, she bounced off of her mattress and landed squarely in front of the boy, so close that it was impossible for him not to see the worry etched in her features. "You don't know what's going on down there, and it is really dark!" The whinnies were beginning to grow softer now, and Malon took note of it. "I think it was probably just a fox or a lost dog. I'm sure that Dad heard it... and... well... maybe it didn't wake him up, but Mister Ingo is probably awake now and..."

A violent renewed series of animal noises, this time paired together with a scream that was obviously from the man Malon had just been talking about made the poor girl shriek and jump up in the air involuntarily. That was all that Link had needed to hear. Grabbing his hat and mashing it on top of his head, Link rushed to the door, only to be halted instantly by Malon's fearful "Wait!"

At Link's involuntarily compliance, Malon continued, shaking all the while. "D-Don't leave me alone up here... I'm coming too!" Without waiting for an answer, she too donned her shoes, foregoing socks and clothing other than her pajamas completely. Link wasn't sure if it was the best idea to take Malon with him, but he didn't really like leaving her alone, either. Shrugging his shoulders, he whispered at his comrade to hurry up.

Quickly, but quietly dashing towards the door was made less efficient than usual with a partner who was still getting used to the low light. Link heard Malon let out a yelp as she tripped over her too-long pajama pants just soon enough to turn and see her fall backwards onto the arm of the living room sofa, over-sized shirt getting tangled in her arms as she tried to get up quickly.

Not wasting any time with words, Link rushed to her side and hefted her back up to her feet. Then, holding her hand in his so she wouldn't trip over anything else, he led her to the door. As he raised his free hand to turn the knob, however, it started rattling and turning independently, causing link to give a surprised cry of his own. Motioning to his companion to back far away, Link placed himself right in front of the door and yanked his tarnished shield and gilded sword from their perches on his back.

The Hero of Time squeezed the handle of his weapon and imagined himself as a rock statue, immovable and solid. From behind the wooden barrier, the creature could be heard growling lowly to itself as it fumbled with the knob, obviously filled with a powerful blood lust – Link knew the sound of something looking for trouble when he heard it.

Link really hoped he wouldn't accidentally mess up any of the furniture in the house...

The door swung open far more quickly than Link had thought it would, but his naturally quick reflexes kicked in just as the dark silhouette of the intruder came into view. Before the thing could step inside, Link's sword was at it's throat, causing his opponent's growl to stop sharply with a "-GURK-" that was followed shortly by more screeching; screeching so horrible that Link found himself frozen in place as if under the spell of a re-dead's empty stare.

"WHAT IN THE WORLD ARE YOU DOING? YOU TRYING TO KILL ME, KID?" After fully coming to grips with the fact that he had mistaken the grumpy farmhand's muttering for monstrous growling, Link quickly removed his blade from its threatening position and opened his mouth to apologize, but couldn't get a word in edge-wise. Ingo was slowly gaining steam, slamming the door behind him and walking forward menacingly with each word.

"Oh, um-"

"I knew it..."

"I'm sor-"

"You..."

"Really sor-"

"YOU CAME HERE TO KILL ME! First the horrible song..."

"N-no, I-"

"You KNEW what that would do to me..."

"Guh-"

"And you KNEW about the monster in the lake..."

"Wuh? I-" Link began to have a sort of morbid fascination with how impossibly red Ingo's face was growing with each scream. It was impressive enough that it could be seen in such poor light, but before he finished, it would seem to be bright enough to serve as a lamp. But wait, no, that red patch sort of looked like it was an injury of some kind...

"But when that didn't finish me, you decided to just do it the old-fashioned way, didn't you? Or did you always plan on doing it yourself? Wait- THAT'S why you healed me!" Noticeable amounts of spittle were landing on the poor boy's face. "THAT'S how you even could! I knew something was up, NOBODY does something like that for free! YOU KNEW THAT IF THE DOCTOR TOOK ME AWAY, (pant, pant) THEN I'D BE OUT OF YOUR REACH! DIDN'T YOU? You're a- a- a demon who has been sent to make my life even more miserable and then- END IT! ADMIT IT! ADMIT IT, YOU MONSTER!"

"Mister Ingo!" The furious ranting halted, although whether it had been Malon's words or simply the end of what the paranoid man had to say, it was difficult to tell. "I don't know what you're talking about, but... but..." All the screaming, all the fear, all the rage; it made Link cringe, but it made Malon feel like her heart was breaking. "Why would you..."

Today had been such a hard day for her already, but now things were starting to spill over. She felt so sad she was beginning to feel angry and she felt so confused that she wanted to start giggling. In this torrent of clashing thoughts, Malon sobbed and wobbled her way into her father's chair where she curled up into a ball.

Uncomfortable and unsure of what was going on and how he had gotten trapped in the middle of it, Link awkwardly slid his weapon back in its sheath just as Talon began his noisy entrance into center stage, fully dressed and unusually alert.

"What in tarnation's goin' on in here? The animals are goin' crazy, but instead of calmin' 'em down, Ingo, yer in here YELLIN' at these KIDS?" Link had never heard the rancher sound quite like this, still much calmer than Ingo, but definitely animated. It didn't last very long, however, because when he saw his daughter shaking and letting out small, sad hiccups in-between bouts of tears, his manner softened immediately. As he stroked her hair he cooed, "Aw darlin', what's the matter? What's been goin' on down here?"

"I'll TELL YOU what's been going on!" Ingo seemed to be attempting to stab everyone in the room with his words as he stomped toward a chest of drawers and started roughly rummaging through it. "This KID is... is... I don't know who or what he is, but ever since he got here, the world has been trying to do me in! And now..." He giggled in a strange, high pitched way at the thought of it, "Just now he tried to slice me up! As if it wasn't enough that I just got my FACE POUNDED IN!" To illustrate his point, Ingo wrenched a box of matches out of the drawer, fired one up with a tangible ferocity, and lit up a candle sitting on the the drawers so that his swollen face was now visible.

The man was a mess. The pinkish-black bruising that rose on top of his forehead, left cheek, and eye looked like decomposition in the flickering candlelight. Luckily Malon was still curled up and did not look, for if she had, she would have certainly been frightened by the combination of bruised flesh, wild eyes, and gnashing teeth.

"What happened to ya, Ingo?" Talon asked, his empathy apparent, "I thought ya were all fixed up...?"

"I was..." The man raised his hand to gently prod at his wound, but seemingly thought better of it. "But _somebody-_" an accusatory look removed all doubt as to whom Ingo suspected, " Somebody scared the horses and I've been passed out all day, so I couldn't sleep... I went out to see what was going on, of course, and THIS is what I got for my trouble!"

He paused, as if waiting for someone to challenge him on anything he had said thus far. Poking at his face again seemed to give him the fire he needed to continue. "GAH! ...I don't know why the horses are acting like this, but its obvious that they didn't all get together and decide to start screaming, thrashing, rearing up and kicking everyone that walks in... I knew something fishy was up, and then I walk into the house to get ice for my re-arranged face – AND HE'S THERE WITH A SWORD AT MY THROAT!"

"Link? What's going on here?" Talon asked incredulously, not really betraying any belief or disbelief, just utter puzzlement.

"I... I'm sorry Ingo." Link offered lamely, feeling immensely guilty and somehow responsible for Ingo's injuries. "I... uhm... I thought you were a monster-"

"YOU'RE THE MONSTER!" Ingo's retaliation was harsh and caused the scrunched up Malon to bury her head under her shirt completely. The horses outside sounded like they were about to explode. "Ever since you- ever since you came it's like a- like a-" Now the man was sputtering, tripping over his own tongue as he tried to spew out his venom and fear. "It's like a nightmare! You know what you did! YOU KNOW! You can't hide anything from me! Nobody can! You think that you can beat me and embarrass me; ruin me with your song and crush my spirit as well as my body! But NO! I know! You-you-you... YOU'RE A-"

The door behind Ingo cracked, cutting off what he was about to say.

For a second, everything was completely silent, even the tortured neighing had stopped, but everyone in the house knew what they had just heard. It didn't take long for new sounds to pile on top of each other in a cacophony of unpleasantness, however. The wet shake of a dozen rattles, rain-sticks, a sudden onslaught of noise. Over what could have been a chittering spider's laughter, more cracking and splintering of the door.

Nobody had really noticed over Ingo's yelling and the braying in the background, but a great and violent force had evidently been gathering, and now it was being applied to the rickety wooden barrier that was the only thing separating the people of Lon Lon from the unknown. A quickly escalating _**THUMP, THUMP, CRRRRK, THUMP **_prompted Malon to shriek and hide in her father's chest. Talon cried out some sort of warning, but it went unheard, because Malon couldn't hear anything over her own voice, Ingo couldn't hear anything over the rattling, and Link couldn't hear anything over the thumping of his heart in his head.

When the door fell, Ingo was scrambling over the furniture, already having dropped and extinguished the lone candle, plunging the house once more into darkness. Talon had made a dash for Link, but when the lights went out and he saw what had just broken down the door, he had turned around and ran for his bedroom, the safety of the girl in his arms his top priority.

Link had stepped towards the chattering mass. Although it was inching forward menacing and foreboding as thick black storm clouds, Link walked to meet it.

He remembered what Navi had told him on the first night he had spent with her out in Hyrule field. He whispered it to himself.

"Don't be afraid..." He wished he had just a little light – something to help him see more than just the crimson pinpricks in their hollow sockets. Then again, it was just as well. There were more than he could ever count. "Just attack repeatedly."

* * *

_Hmm... I had planned on tacking on the action sequence at the end of this, but I'm having a bit of trouble with it – making a sword fight fun is a bit difficult for me. For now, I'll leave it at this. _

_Y'know, I almost forgot to have Ingo close the door back so it could get ripped apart. I think I might be rushing through a bit here because I'm trying to get to parts I'm excited about - I didn't really self-edit this one too much, so if there's something I missed or need to fix, let me know. _

_As always, thanks for reading! And for reviewing, too!_


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